County Board Honors Two Retiring Department Heads, Names Replacements

SCHOHARIE COUNTY _ Two well-respected Schoharie County department heads who are retiring at the end of July were honored at the Friday, July 19 county Board of Supervisors meeting, and the BOS also named their replacements.

Board members had words of praise for Denise Minton in the Probation Department and Nancy Dingee, who will soon end her tenure as head of the Office of the Aging.

Dingee served in the Aging Office for 14 years and Minton with the Probation Department for 18 years.

"These are two of my favorite department heads," BOS Chairman William Federice of Conesville said.

"Denise has been tremendous to work with," added Supervisor John Leavitt of Carlisle. Another board member noted that "Nancy kept up with changes and had the best budgeting backup in the county. She could justify every cent."

A little later in the meeting, the supervisors approved Meg Parsons to replace Dingee at the Office of the Aging at a starting annual salary of $73,710 and Richard Cain to replace Minton as head of Probation at a starting annual salary of $96,602. Parsons is currently an Aging Services Supervisor and Cain a Probation Supervisor.

In other news from the July 19 meeting, Youth Bureau Department Head Cody Robinson-Bullock updated the BOS on the progress and accomplishments of the bureau since a rather down period three or four years ago brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic.

"The Youth Bureau is thriving," Robinson-Bullock said. "We have a strong and dedicated staff dedicated to multiplying the impact of positive youth development. We collaborate with all six school districts in the county and have great enrichment programs going on in the schools. We've been in front of close to 2,000 students, and that's quite a feat for three full-time staff members."

He added that the YB, originally started in 1986, has recovered well from the impacts of the pandemic.

"Kids are so resilient," Robinson-Bullock noted. "We've seen that in the last three or four years."

Among the several recent initiatives of the bureau are teaching tennis lessons with help from the United States Tennis Association and running a lifeguard recruiting and retention program with the help of a $20,000 grant, said Robinson-Bullock, who was accompanied at the July 19 meeting by three of the nine YB summer staff members.

"You do invaluable work, you do a good job," Federice told Robinson-Bullock.

"It's hard for someone in your position because the effects of the Youth Bureau's work can sometimes not be felt until years down the road and cannot always be measured in dollars and cents," added Supervisor Donald Airey of Blenheim. "Keep at it."

During committee reports, the BOS approved about $1,3 million to, in Federice's words "formalize the work being done by the IDA (county Industrial Development Agency) to make the Shad Point site (in Town of Cobleskill) shovel ready (for some redevelopment)."

Federice continued in an email to this newspaper that the "reason behind the motion was to document our action and intention to encumber ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds for use after 2024."

Charles J. Finin of the Town of Cobleskill was appointed to five-year terms to both the county Industrial Development Agency and county Capital Resource Corporation.