Molinaro: "Stronger. Safer. Healthier. Kinder."

[Music] Welcome back everyone to another pulse pounding edition of Mark Weinwald's. The podcast where we discuss Duchess County, state of New York and anything else that's on the mind of the Duchess County executive Mark Bondaro. I'm glad to be on again. My name's Brotican and I'm joined as I am each and every week except it's not really each and every week of. It's every week except the weeks we don't do this. Exactly. Our favorite county executive Mark Bondaro, welcome back. Thanks. Happy to be back. So we um I know a lot of people are focused on election day in two weeks and you know the end of the world as we know it. Here's an election. I'll let you allegedly. I occasionally see things on Twitter. But I mean your focus on 2017 and beyond and yet just yesterday because we're recording this on Friday, you released your proposed 2017 budget to the Duchess County Legislature. If you guys tell us a little about that. Sure, so the 2017 county budget holds spending level with our current 2016 spending while at the same time we're able to provide the third consecutive year of property tax levy reductions and our second consecutive tax rate reduction. Which you know I have to say is really a testament to Duchess County's strong fiscal management. We've made and taken some important steps over the last four years to consolidate county government to shrink the size scale and scope of county government to make it more efficient. And all of that is paying off. At the same time we've seen some modest economic growth. We'd like it to be stronger but but those things combined smart and conservative financial management along with some economic growth. We're not only really able to hold the line on taxes. We're able to provide a tax reduction at the same time. We're targeting investments in areas of county government to really strengthen the economy, improve public safety, enhance the overall quality of life and public health and really targeting very specifically efforts to reach out to individuals and populations that too often feel like government doesn't work for them. This government does and we're able to provide services at a lower cost to taxpayers. You have the budget broken into like four specific areas. A stronger Duchess County, a safest Duchess County, a healthier Duchess County and a kinder Duchess County. Those specific four areas, why do you consider those important? Well I think they speak to the priorities that we have for county government and I would say the priorities that I have for government overall. I mean we are responsible for managing the taxpayer's dollars. So having a strong financial condition, making sure that our fiscal position is strong is important. It sends a message to businesses, employers and residents that this is a this is a sound and responsible community. We see that strength in the modest economic growth. We have the lowest unemployment rate of any of the counties in the region. I think a second lowest in the state. We saw nearly 2,000 new jobs created in the first quarter of 2016 this year. At the same time we maintain the second highest bond rating of any county in the state and our financial practices have been acknowledged by standard and pores and those others who pay attention and monitor governments as being smart and conservative and responsible. So we're responsible for keeping the fiscal condition strong. Now we are also I think responsible for public safety and public safety is really among the highest priorities of government. So we're investing smartly to enhance the way in which law enforcement communicates with one another. We're putting a few more deputy sheriffs on the street to we're enhancing our criminal justice system reforming and reshaping the criminal justice system focus on Duchess County's model of restorative justice, investing in prevention, intervention, diversion and transition services. We by mandate and by choice have a responsibility to provide for public health in county governments and along with that improving our quality of life and enhancing the overall health of our community is important and I just think that in a time where people seem to be obsessed with tearing each other down and looking for ways to criticize one another having a commitment to being kinder toward one another is well it seems like a conservative and smart thing to do. It seems like a natural extension of who we are and who we ought to be. So when I came into office I said we were going to answer two important questions over our time together. Who are we as a people and how do we hope to live? Well I think we hope to be stronger as a community. I think we want to be as safe as we can be as a community. I think we want to be the healthiest we can be as a community and I think that we want to be kinder toward one another and our policies to help those at the lower end of the income scale to help minority populations to advance issues important to individuals that often feel like government doesn't speak for them is as important as anything else we do. So by compartmentalizing in essence our effort we're able to explain to the public what we do how we do it and why we're able to do it in an effective and efficient way in this year three years in a row at a lower cost of taxpayers. And I just wanted to touch back a little bit to the point you made about you know being a kinder people because we actually we have that clip up on Facebook because I felt it was important and all aid that would be I think anyone listening to this who's involved remotely in politics that has social media knows that no matter what you post it could be go bills you're going to find people attacking you over either Trump or Hillary or whatever the outrage of the day is it's easy to say like you know everyone says we need to actually start you know dialing things back and listening to each other and you know collaborating with each other how do we actually go about starting to do that? Well we start by starting I think that yeah right I mean you start by starting somebody's got to take the first step I've never been either a fan of the argument well you know it's a slippery slope meaning you know if you make one one decision people don't like it's going to bring out others that that assumes that you're not thinking and and I also don't like that you know this concept that well just because they're doing it I should do it too I do think that we are on this earth to support one another to invest into one another to listen to one another I think in government especially we can hold firm to our principles while still collaborating with those with whom we might disagree and that every individual in Duchess County and by extension every American has every right to their opinion and we ought to encourage the expression of that opinion in a way that's fair in a way that's respectful in the way that's civil and in doing that I think we strengthen our community we learn about one another we learn a little bit about ourselves and perhaps even challenge us as individuals to think beyond you know our comfort zone and for government's perspective we can build better policy and gain their respect and support of taxpayers at the end of the day we serve all taxpayers regardless of what party they're affiliated with what their race color or creed is what their background or length of residency is if they're involved in living in our community and paying their taxes we're responsible to serve them and I think that we ought to be examples of responsibility and civility doesn't mean we always get it right it doesn't mean we expect perfection it doesn't mean we don't make mistakes it means that every day in every way in all of our service I think we ought to extend to one another a hand in kindness and hopefully at the same time make sure that government doesn't forget those who often feel that government doesn't represent them and switching gears a little bit because one thing we've been talking about in each podcast is thinking differently and specifically like at the state in the new state why I'd think differently initiative I know over the past couple weeks you've been on the road a little like I hit watertown in Utica and I think like another place or two we get to talk a little about this the nation of house is going so far you know we we launched this in duchess county and I think differently effort is focused on embracing supporting respecting and assisting those of every ability and that every individual regardless of their ability wants a community to call home and wants to have a connection to their family and to their neighborhood and to their community and thanks to the New York State Association of Counties who embraced duchess counties think differently initiative we have counties and communities across the state now that are adopting we think differently resolutions where they're really really embedding into their decision-making ways that they can reach out as we do to individuals with special needs and the reception across the state has been wonderful we've had a handful of forms as you mentioned in other communities and my message is very simple what works for duchess county and how we apply the think differently principles that could be slightly different to how some other community might want to apply them but at the end of the day we want to open minds and change hearts and ensure that every individual regardless of ability has a community that respects supports and appreciate them and we're making a great deal of progress and I think it's important to to say to people that we need to combat what what I think is a you know a prejudice that needs to be addressed and that is this this prejudice of low expectation the thought that certain people can accomplish certain things because they're differently abled our our focus is really to to assist individuals achieve is a greater level of independence and individual success as possible and I think that starts by thinking differently about how we interact with with one another and how we support those with special needs yeah and when you think about interacting with with one another what better way to do so over a play to spaghetti well for a guy with the last nameling mole and arrow that doesn't it doesn't get much better than spaghetti and meatballs but yes you know you think about it you know food is every part of our lives isn't it so and and as you I think you're going to segue we've got a pretty big spaghetti dinner coming up you know for twenty one years we've hosted my pasta and politics dinner we started it when I was just a village mayor in the village of Tivoli and we have grown every year since last year we served four hundred and sixty five people it's an all you can eat spaghetti feast for the low low price of ten dollars you can't go to a tight restaurant and get and get a bowl spaghetti for ten dollars no you can't but based on what I know I know I know I know how much of all spaghetti cost and believe me we make a little bit on a ten dollar but but we we always get a great turnout you know it's it's bipartisan we get folks from all political parties who show up it's a nice community dinner it's in the village of Tivoli at the masonic hall and we have a great cook sam lore who's who's been doing this for years we call my uncle sam we we don't think we're related but we call my uncle sam and he's we've got great team of volunteers who serve and we just invite anybody wants to come and join us but it's pasta and politics a nice way to settle down before election day and if you get lucky he might we might see a candidate or two find their way through and it's a great opportunity to ask some questions before they go off to election day and I did just look at the clothes on the lighter side of the news okay well he's always going to be John Winchester from Supernatural to me there's a lot in the news this week about actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan from the The Walking Dead which because I don't want to have people yelling at me for spoilers and this is a family podcast we won't mention why but I was actually fascinated by this because as people may or may not know he is actually he does live in duchess county and he like he moved here after see after shooting a movie in the Hudson Valley and seeing how beautiful it was but with the exception of a of posts that we've done about where upstate america starts we've never had anything take off as much as hey look Jeffrey Dean Morgan loves duchess yes and he does and he lives just outside of of lineback and that's it I won't give away his his address and I've seen him around town a couple times but yeah and his obviously is prominence in in the walking dead has you know has given him a great deal of attention lately but he he loves duchess county loves rinebeck he actually is a partner in a in a great little business called Samuel's in the village of rinebeck with actor Paul Rudd and I've just you know they he and his wife give back to the community he volunteers and supports a astroservices for children and families in duchess and they provide services in the Bronx so you know it's funny we talked about this in the state of the county but you know the fact is actually the budget address we have we have a number of famous faces throughout duchess who live here and work here they're actually five feature films underway in the region and we've been meeting with hundreds of film scouts who like to do business in the Hudson Valley and I want to do business in duchess county and frankly you know I I just think it's great that that we have these famous faces who who are actually invested in our community and you know I guess they don't mind when you when you you know shake your hands and ask them to take a photograph but I think it's it's it's great that they get to live somewhat anonymous lives and enjoy themselves in a in a great little community like duchess county I still think we should pitch the idea of think differently the movie starring Jeffrey Dean Thomas and James Earl Jones well that's a possibility and we could we can we can we can give it a give it a shot and actually though you know James Earl Jones of course is a as a Pauling resident sadly his wife but just passed away and we we certainly extended their thoughts to him but but yes he's been a duchess resident for number he's very close friends with their county sheriff I just wanted him when I I met him a few years ago I asked him would you mind saying mark I am your father how could you not I wish I had it recorded but he did it for me made my day but you know there are a lot of famous faces in the region I think it's because of our proximity to the city and we have a great quality of life but it's it really is nice that they get to live their lives in the community and still invest in duchess county and yes the things that people keep alive on social media and and what gets popular is a mystery to me but we throw it all into the social media box and whatever comes out comes out whatever sticks to the wall that's my motto that's like spaghetti yes you throw it against the wall whatever sticks there before we let you go any closing thoughts oh I have plenty of closing thoughts but I think at this point I just would say if especially if we don't if they don't if you all don't hear from me before November 8th don't forget to get out and vote uh. new york state actually has a lot of uh. bad statistics uh. but uh. among the worst is the fact that we are forty-ninth of fifty states when it comes to voter turnout and elections are still decided by voters and uh. the number you get into that booth you cast your your ballot they add them up and whoever's got more votes wins and uh. in this date I I just would encourage residents of all political parties no matter where you live or where you're listening uh. november eight is an important day and we all have to get out to express our opinions mark well now mark well now i'll touch its kind executive thank you thank you sure i'll talk again soon and uh. thank you for everyone for tuning in this has been another episode of mark my words uh. can follow on facebook on twitter on instagram on itunes all over the internet and we'll talk to you soon you