ALBANY – Chautauqua county’s new County Executive has been sworn into office.
On Wednesday, Vince Horrigan of Bemus Pont officially became the county’s new executive during a swearing in ceremony in Mayville. The event was the culmination of his victory in the 2013 election in November.
During the past 6 weeks Horrigan has been meeting with his transition team, engaging Chautauqua County elected officials, and talking with business, education, foundation, and economic development leaders across Chautauqua County.
In a recent media release, Horrigan says that time has provided the foundation for developing his agenda for the next four years.
Horrigan has broken down his agenda by concentrating in 5 key areas of growth and development:
1. Grow efficiency in County Government Service Delivery and Public-Private partnerships.
a. Explore, evaluate and implement beneficial private and public-private opportunities;
b. Use an outcome and evidence based approach to enhance county services; and
c. Coordinate and strengthen county-wide coalitions to get action steps that bring results.
2. Grow our self sufficient and skilled workforce with education, business participation.
a. Streamline the welfare to work program by exploring a NYS Pilot initiative;
b. Strengthen the career focus for young adults in education, and internship programs;
c. Implement effective county wide job-fairs tailored to business clusters; and
d. Review and assess our County substance abuse problem; implement best practices.
3. Grow economic development opportunities through local and regional partnerships.
a. Implement regional infrastructure projects:
1. Implement North County water district,
2. Complete Chautauqua Lake sewer access,
3. Open Lake Erie Harbors through dredging projects;
b. Strengthen County, and local economic development collaborations and
c. Attract new businesses and jobs through START-UP NY initiative.
4. Grow and retain jobs from existing businesses (tourism, health care, manufacturing, retail, agriculture, technology, etc.).
a. ID top 100 companies for job growth. Use all available county resources to support new job creation; and
b. Leverage public-private investment, energy solutions and natural resources for growth;
c. Enhance internship / apprenticeship programs to grow employment opportunities.
5. Grow regional demand for Chautauqua County as a year-round destination for visitors, investors, and business development.
a. Develop a high impact Chautauqua County marketing and promotion strategy that is targeted to key business clusters, led by the IDA with County-wide team leadership;
b. Use existing businesses, visitors and Not-For-Profits to recruit new investment; and
c. Leverage Chautauqua County strengths to bolster WNY regional growth initiatives.
Horrigan acknowledges that his agenda is very ambitious but can be accomplished with everyone working together. He points to the recent success of repowering NRG in Dunkirk which was accomplished by Chautauqua County teamwork.
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