The Overlook is conducting a series of interviews with candidates running for office in the Nov. 4 election, offering readers an opportunity to hear directly from those seeking to shape their communities. In this installment, senior reporter Jim Rich sits down with Tim Kelly, who is running for Hurley Town Councilperson as the Keep Hurley Hurley nominee, as well as Democratic nominees Griff Leiwa and Democratic incumbent Deborah Dougherty in separate conversations. Voters will elect two of the three. [The following has been lightly edited for clarity and concision]:
What do you see as the single most important issue facing the town of Hurley right now? And how would you address it?
Debbie Dougherty: It’s hard to just to name one, but I think probably above all, the reason that I actually put my name in for this position in the first place, is around safety and emergency management in Hurley. My main goal is to get better emergency medical services. We’re on our last leg of getting our BLS issue. That’s basic life support, EMTs and the ambulance, up and running. We are contracting with Hurley Ambulance Service, so I’m really proud of that. And then the other thing that I’m working hard on is our emergency management plan. When I came into this office, we actually literally couldn’t find the Hurley emergency management plan. So we’ve been just basically working with the county and recreating that. Who would have thought, we’d have a tornado in Hurley or, like a couple of years ago, a devastating ice storm. So these are all the things that are really important. And then, I know you asked for one, but I do have to mention fiscal responsibility. When I came into the administration, the finances were in pretty, bad shape. We are working really hard to try to turn that around and get us back into better control of our financials, which we are doing and have been working on this year. So think we have to keep going down that path and finishing that work up.
Griff Liewa: I think right now, Hurley has, I wouldn’t say any one single issue. I would say at least three top issues. And number one on that list is we have a perennial drainage issue in some of the areas that have been an ongoing problem for years. We’ve never really fixed it. That’s one. Number two is concerning the residents of Hurley. I think that the town board, along with all the different agencies, we need to do more to provide for the residents, especially the senior citizens. I’m talking recreation. I’m talking about services. There’s a lot of room for improvement in that area. And finally, I think it’s very important that we get this ambulance EMS thing resolved.
Tim Kelly: I think the battery energy storage plant on Hurley Avenue is of major concern. We need to just continue to bird dog that entire process and make sure we’re advocating for full transparency, good expert reviews, clear science. And just making sure that they’re not ignoring the residents’ concerns over the risk and the danger to life, safety, property, evacuation, closure of the New York State Thruway. There’s a lot of things at stake with building this, especially kind of like shoehorning it in between all these residential neighborhoods and the Thruway, etc., in a location that’s serviced by a volunteer fire company.
Given budget constraints, what’s one area you think the town could operate more efficiently in. And where would you like to see taxpayer money a little better spent?
Tim Kelly: I think just continuously reviewing vendor contracts and making sure that we’re competitively bidding everything that we can. And then trying to limit the amount of professional services that we’re using and being judicious with using those where we need them.
Debbie Dougherty: First off, we operate on a very tight budget. That’s one of the things our residents, through many surveys, like our comprehensive plan survey, voice over and over again, is that we need to keep the taxes low. So, we’ve been striving to do that. It’s tough to keep the expenses down. For example, having to put in a new emergency management medical service, contracting with an ambulance company because we just don’t have enough volunteers. And the ones we have just can’t handle the ambulance volume. That’s a whole new expense for us. So it’s really tough to maintain. But we are actually going through the budget process now, and we are definitely tightening up wherever we can. Even things like just office supplies and those kind of things.We are looking at that level to try to keep things manageable. We came into an administration that has a lot of deficits, like with EMS, but also our highway garage. We are in a situation of renting a space. Our highway garage got condemned a couple years ago. So we are literally looking line by line through our budget to keep it tight wherever we can and save money wherever we can.
Griff Liewa: Well, I’m not on the town board yet. Sometimes it’s very easy to be outside and just sort of cast stones and say this and that. So I’m hesitant to give a comprehensive answer without having all the inside information. But I am of the opinion that there’s money to be saved. I just don’t have the specifics of where exactly that would be. But a comprehensive overall look at the budget process. Look at where the money is being spent. Take a look at our auditing process, possibly with some of the consultants that we’re using. That probably could be money saved in that. And then also when it comes to certain processes, certain contracts, I think it’s healthy to just take a look at everything we have. Every politician promises savings. But that’s easier said than done. I think we have to be very careful. We have to be very methodical. We have to be very smart about and judicious in what we look at and what we eventually choose to cut, if we’re going to cut anything, and what we’re going to put money into. But it’s a process. There are no magic-bullet answers to that question.
What specific skills or experience do you bring to the job that makes you the best candidate?
Griff Liewa: I’ve been on the planning board now for two years. My specialty is bringing people together. I’m a great consensus builder and I have a quality that is lost these days, which is the ability to listen, to listen to different groups of people, carefully analyze what they say and then work towards consensus. If people work together, things can be solved very easily. Unfortunately, a lot of times everybody has their own agenda and everybody’s in their silo and they’re all going off in different directions. And I think Hurley deserves a team that works together. And that’s what I bring to the table.
Tim Kelly: I have a long history of working in business and in finance. I have a broad based knowledge encompassing everything from hospitality, agriculture. And I work in the legal field. I think that combined with my ability to research things and understand and look at things from multiple different angles. When I was previously on the board [Kelly was appointed to a 10-month stint on the board in January of 2024 when Michael Boms vacated his seat to become supervisor], anytime there was something involving equipment and the highway department, because of my agriculture background.
And when we did the ambulance district, they initially had proposed the first year, I think it was like 20% or 21% increase on taxes, not only blowing the tax cap away, but going way above and beyond it. And Hurley is in a pretty good position as far as unappropriated general fund reserves. So, my proposal was to take half of what was necessary for year one. Still blow out the tax cap, but only go to like 10% as opposed to 20%. We were in a situation a few years ago where the books weren’t being kept well. So getting people in there that understand how to identify things, price them, do them correctly, project-manage things, great resolutions for people is really the thing. And we need to keep moving the needle. I’m in the business of getting things done, not in the business of talking about them. You don’t win football games by talking in the locker room. You have to go out on the field and play the game.
Debbie Dougherty: I have over 20 years of experience in management [Dougherty worked as a manager for IBM]. I managed large, complex, international-types of projects, with extremely large budgets. I have experience as a project manager dealing with issue management, risk management, financial management and personnel management., I really feel like that is a strength that I bring to the management of the town. I feel like I’ve seamlessly come into this position and I can help in many different areas from that experience.
Jim Rich is a senior reporter for The Overlook. You can reach him at jim@theoverlooknews.com.