Paul Szmal: And speaking of which, Mike Enslow is here. He's chair of the Seneca County Board of Supervisors. Good morning and welcome back.
Mike Enslow: Good morning, Ted. Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Paul Szmal: So first thing, and I apologize, I messed up on my scheduling. The meeting was 10 days ago and suddenly I was sitting here in the middle of the month realizing I hadn't scheduled some of my lawmakers here. So let's start with the county budget. What would you say are the highlights of the budget for 2025?
Mike Enslow: Oh, let's see. Well, you know, we were able to adopt the budget. It was, you know, quite a debate, but we were able to do it. And the proposed increase was originally, the tentative budget was 26.7% and we were able to, after much debate, go down to 9.2% is what was adopted by the board. So, you know, it secures our programs that are in place. They will, you know, we don't have any, we'll not have any loss of anything, which is great. And then, you know, just continues our services. So it's something that, you know, in the future, we're going to have to look at. I just want people to be aware that, you know, even though we were able to lower it this year, you know, we had to take money out of the piggy bank and eventually, you know, that's going to put a hardship down the road. So, you know, we're probably looking at a few years of tax increases, unfortunately, and I know nobody wants to hear that, but it's just, it's to get us where we need to be because we have the Grand Canyon in between, you know, what we're taking in and what we, what our expenses are. But it was passed, so the county will continue to operate. And, you know, it has funding in that budget for the small business programs that we had started. They're going to keep going. Everything with the ARPA money is in place. So I'm looking forward to a good 2025.
Paul Szmal: That was the next part is going to bring up those ARPA funds. Some will go to the Director of Water Sewer Services. Gross Seneca will get some. Planning Department, a vehicle purchase, and some will go for a renovation at Papa Bear that we'll talk more about. So are you happy with the allocation of those funds?
Mike Enslow: Yes, yeah. I mean, you know, this budget was a lot of work. I had never been this in-depth with the budget, you know, fulfilling the role of the county manager absence. So, I mean, it was, it was a hell of a process. I'm not going to lie to you. I learned a lot, a lot more. And, you know, I think in the future, I hope the board will continue to have a very active role in the budget and the debate. It was a very good debate, you know, hard debate, but a healthy debate.
Paul Szmal: The county is among many that are calling the state to do a better job protecting our public water supplies from contaminants. You passed a resolution calling for increasing funding for a county drinking water enhancement grants.
Mike Enslow: Yeah, you know, that's been a, our healthy water, having healthy water is huge. And hang on one second. I was just trying to, I had my notes here. One second. Yeah, it's hard to zoom on the phone and have your notes on the phone too at the same time. Yeah. Boy, Ted, what did I do with that? Yeah, you know, it's the increase, you know, just to keep water quality at a high level and trying to make sure we can continue to make sure our health is safe and, you know, the water doesn't have any problems. And that's something that's grown with all the stuff going on with the algae blooms and everything.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, those, what they call the PFAs, the forever chemicals. So there are a whole lot more threats going. You also, you've authorized a contracts for architectural services for a couple of projects we've talked about. One is the office of the aging building and the other is Papa Bear.
Mike Enslow: Yes. Office for the aging project is, you know, underway. That project is something that the county has went back and forth with, but it's exciting. You know, construction is underway and hopefully that, I know it had a goal of being completed by the end of the year. I'm anticipating with a few setbacks we had, it might flow into January, but, you know, they'll have a beautiful new space. It's bringing it back to the county building. And, you know, that will pave the way eventually down the road to do some changes with our mental health department, moving them into the space, the old Bonadent building once we renovate that. But it's exciting to get some of these projects like, you know, the renovation for the office for the aging underway and moving forward.
Paul Szmal: You know, that's, it's, it's exciting. We're talking with Mike Enslow, chair of the Seneca County Board of Supervisors. So the county is going to create a single head code enforcement officer. Talk about that decision. It was just decided that it makes sense to have sort of one person overall heading up that department.
Mike Enslow: Yeah, so we actually have, we do already have a lead. And what this position actually is, so we have the director of code enforcement, the single person, but we did not have a head code enforcement that would be a second basically, but they would be the head, you know, so it's kind of confusing, but we have a director, but then we will have a head code enforcement officer. And that's where, you know, if the director's out or not there, you know, there's somebody, you know, somebody next in line to help the department stay operational. That's something historically, for whatever reason, you know, there's always got to be a backup plan, right, Ted? And for some reason, the county has had a lot of gaps in that. So we're just going through, you know, over the last few years, trying to hone in on that and straighten that out. So this is just one more step to make sure, for whatever reason, if the, you know, the lead's not there, that there's somebody else there. So that's what this was doing.
Paul Szmal: The board has scheduled a special year-end meeting for this Monday night at six o'clock in the meeting room at Depronio Drive. What's that meeting for?
Mike Enslow: Just some housekeeping, you know, some year-ends, setting the taxes, and just a few things we have to do annually. But nothing huge on that agenda. Pretty small agenda, just some housekeeping stuff we have to do to finish out the year.
Paul Szmal: So there's a move underway to create a Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad New York Scenic Byway, and Seneca County's going to be involved in this. Explain what this is going to look like.
Mike Enslow: Yeah, so the committee for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad, you know, it's got 22 municipalities along for the proposed scenic railway, and it came to our Economic Development and Tourism Committee to get support. So, you know, they're trying, it's in the early stages, but they're trying to make sure that they can get support to move this forward. So it's an exciting project. It's still in the early stages, but it's going to be, it sounds exciting. So there's still more details to come out, but it's, Seneca County joined the other municipalities, so it's going to be 544 miles through the state. So it's pretty exciting. We'll follow more on that, I'm sure, in the months to come.
Paul Szmal: Everybody's talking about housing. I just had another one of my lawmaker guests on this week talking about housing. So Seneca County is putting together a comprehensive housing strategy plan, and you've put out the request for proposals for professional services to help design that plan. So tell us what you hope to accomplish here in terms of a housing plan for the county.
Mike Enslow: Right, so since around, I think it's been August 29th of 23, I have been declaring a housing emergency in Seneca County every single month forward because we do have a housing emergency in Seneca County. So we had money that we had, we committed $500,000 of the American ARPA money, and this is just moving it forward to continue. We already had, we adopted a resolution in June, established the program guidelines, and now we are just going out to get the moving forward with an RFP to keep on moving this housing initiative. You know, there's some exciting plans, some multiple housing, and it's just one more step to get more housing in Seneca County so we can get out of this emergency we're in. And I know it's going to take years, but it's so important. So we're just, it's just one more step. I'm working with Seneca Housing. It's just, it's amazing and exciting to see that there is forward motion for this.
Paul Szmal: Well, I've been talking with all my guests since it is the month of December to take a look back at 2024 and especially the good news. So what do you see as some of the things that make you happiest that have happened in Seneca County this year?
Mike Enslow: Wow, Ted, now you're putting me on the spot. It's got to be something, right? Well, I got to tell you, I mean, there's been a lot of things, a lot of things with employees and things I've seen people move up and step up. And the biggest thing I guess that, you know, there's lots of things, but I guess the thing that was most exciting recently and really, really made me think about what this is all about is finally getting the Water and Sewer Authority established. You know, when I heard the governor, it was like Friday night and I heard it like it was late in the evening. And I heard that I got a text from the Assemblyman's office that, hey, you know, the bill was signed. And I tell you, it was exciting to know all this stuff that we've done is finally coming to fruition because that had been talked about for so long. So it was exciting to see that happening. Passing the budget, you know, even with mixed feelings on that, you know, being able to do that. You know, I'm excited. I'm excited for 25 to see what else we can do. But, you know, the big thing was the Water and Sewer Authority. That was, that just, it blew my mind that we could actually do that because it seems like nothing gets accomplished and it's frustrating.
Paul Szmal: I was going to say, especially in New York State, the way we operate in the state, it's just, you have to be very, very patient. I think of the things, there's things I've talked about with guests for, you know, 70 years before they happened.
Mike Enslow: So, Mike, thanks for the time. We appreciate adding you to the lineup this year and we appreciate all the great information we get about the doings of county government. So thanks once more.
Paul Szmal: Well, thank you, Ted. And I appreciate what you do. I think it's awesome that you have all your guests on and the things, I mean, I listen to the program every morning and it's just, it's a great thing, great program you have here. So appreciate it.
