Department of the Environment

Amanda LaValle will be the new coordinator of the newly created Department of the Environment for Ulster County.

Having a department that can focus all the environmental impacts that the multitude of other departments contribute throughout this county is an ideal function.

You realize this couldn’t have happened under the republican controlled Legislature. We still see a resistance to the idea of human impact on our global environment on the national level. Why would it be any different here?

Michael Hein was quoted in the Freeman saying "It's being done in perfect balance, the kind of balance that brings good government forward for less money," said Hein. "Government tends to get larger and larger. This will control that. The department will never get bigger than three people."

I am happy to hear this. The image of more government employment gluttony would be a sticking point for any future campaign against our sitting legislators. So, with this new department, we will see the continued progress that Brian Shapiro and other concerned leaders had hoped for, carry out the progressive mission of shepherding in a greener Ulster County.