Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The views and opinions expressed in the following programmer those
of the speaker and don't necessarily represent those of the
station's staff, management, or ownership.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And good morning you'll find out with Pete and the
Poet Gold, I'm Peter and I'm the poet Gold, and
man we are on the EDD this morning with Ron Hicks,
the assistant County Executive in Dutchess County for Economic Development.
And before we get to Ron and all his exciting news,
we're going to go right to the poet Gold for
her weekly prayer poem incantation Gold, please let it roll. Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
So this month we're also honoring Poetry Month, and so
I've chosen to read poems from a book I edited
called Mightier Poets for Social Justice. It was edited by me,
and it's on Caps Publishing, And I'm going to read
poets Sandra yan Nun I believe I'm pronouncing her name correctly,
or yan one. And the poem is entitled occupy Sonnet
(00:55):
because everything is broken in this country of squandered and
pillaged dream. Even the sonnet's usual bliss can't write itself
in fourteen jagged lines. When all is said and done,
this sonnet will list like the Andrea Doria mortally wounded
off the Stone coast of New England, her swaying lifeboats,
unhinged from the debits, the syllables too far and few
(01:19):
between governments, banks and poets to save everyone from the print,
sanctioning drowning. So this sonnet ends.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I don't know if that's scary a why, but I
liked the where you read it. One of the things
we wanted to make sure I took note of it
before we got it on the air. You said, well,
I don't really do policies. I'm campaigning. Give me a sense.
(01:49):
I've known you for a long time, but I don't
have a sense of what your relationship is to politics.
I know what your relationship is to projects and accomplishment,
but what's your How do you think of yourself in
terms of a political landscape.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Not in terms of a political landscape at all, but
as a public servant. So I've worked for both Democrats
and Republicans at different levels of government, and I'm a
public servant. So I found out early on when I
was actually interning in college for the speaker of the
(02:26):
New York City Assembly's regional office, how much power elected
officials have to help people if they choose, And I
got incredible job satisfaction out of helping someone who called
had a problem. So I've always had this sense that,
you know, government has an obligation to help people, regardless
(02:47):
of their individual's opinions or the issue. We do have
answers and we have ways of giving people direction, and
I've always felt that obligation, and so that is why
I remain in government. So I'm an appointed official and
this recent this post that I have now I've been
(03:10):
here almost thirteen years. A condition when I came back
into this world and back to my home county was that,
you know, I wasn't going to be partisan. I wasn't
going to be doing political things or campaigning. I need
to work with everyone to get things done. And that
was the design. And I do truly believe that, you know,
there's a time for campaign and then there's a time
(03:31):
to get things done, and that's when we need to
focus to work together and solve our problems. And then
campaigns come along and they do what they need to do.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
It takes great objectivity to be able to you know,
sort of step back and be in that role of
public servant. You know, I'm wondering if there was ever
a space where you felt challenged in that capacity based
upon your own individual beliefs.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Every day, every day. We're in some really interesting times
right now where there's a great deal of uncertainty. Everything's
being tested, and it makes it very difficult because I
think people and including myself, particularly over the last say
(04:18):
five six years, distrusts government more than they ever have before,
and I myself question it sometimes. But I think it's
important to have good people. I'm not patting myself on
the back. I try to be the best person I
can be. But there are an incredible number of people working,
(04:38):
Like in the county we have seventeen hundred people working
for county government. Whether you agree or disagree with any
of the elected individuals, there are those others who are
working hard every day to make a difference and get
things done. So you only get to see what the
news media choose to present as a represent of the government,
(05:03):
but there's a lot going on behind the scenes that
make a difference a goal.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I'm surprised by the answer, are you I mean? And
what I spect I'm surprised by the answer first of all,
for somebody who I've only known ron as a person
attached to politics, I know at least twenty or thirty years, right,
And then to hear this perspective is a genuinely nonpartisan perspective.
(05:31):
That and when you say government has some answers and
it's important for us to implement them, that's a very
bright form of political life. And I never heard it
the point, I never heard that perspective on a political
(05:53):
career or political vocation. Put that way, then when elections come,
your back off, whereas everyone else is dying to get
into the election, and repeature of the eyeballs out.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Well, I think that that you know, the question that
you asked me originally, and I'm glad thank you for explaining,
you know what you meant that they're human beings, you know,
in making these policies that are that are doing the work.
So I agree the answers are there because the answers
come from the people, you know, and so so right,
(06:24):
the answers are there. But whether or not if those
answers are being implemented is a whole nother different thing,
you know, if it's getting caught up in this sort
of divisive funnel, so to speak, is a whole other
thing to address. But because I believe there are some intelligent, kind,
(06:46):
morally grounded human beings that yeah, the answers can be there, and.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Ron, I agree with your gold, But I also.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Think that I'm surprise by I'm surprised with.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Even the part government has some answers. I mean, there's
you know, political party in our country says the problem
is the government. And I think that even people in
that part I'm obviously such a Republican party, even people
in that party actually think government does have some answer
and we've got to get to them.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You know, I don't want to misrepresent here. I deal
with government myself. I work for a government. I am
battling on a regular basis other governments, uh, that regulate us.
I'm dealing with New York State and a couple of
their regulatory authorities right now that make it incredibly difficult
(07:47):
for me to do my job, that make it difficult
for us to to adopt a budget. What what happens
is there are always good intentions behind most of the
time behind legend. A representative or elected will propose legislation
and oftentimes you know, they get left up to the
(08:09):
departments to promulgate the rules, who really never understood the spirit,
but just know that they have to now do this
and and so bureaucracies, there's we don't have enough time
on the show to talk about this. But bureaucracies are
a good thing, and their isolation is a good thing. However,
(08:30):
they can also if left to their own devices and
left unchecked, and they can be bad things. Again, I
deal with this every day. Individuals are implementing what has
been set forth by a bureaucracy after a piece of
legislation has been passed, and it's not theirs to interpret anymore.
(08:53):
So if you have I'll take a health inspector, for example,
who goes into a restaurant. They get a lot of
pushback from a restaurant tour you know about adhering to
the code. These are laws that were created by New
York State that were then you know, developed, The rules
were developed by the Department of Health, and now the
(09:13):
county is forced mandated to enforce them. So you have
an inspector who goes into a restaurant and has to
cite a restaurant for this, this, this, and this, because
that's what New York State Laws says, and that individuals
just doing their job. They're trying to do their job,
and they've got to deal with someone on the other
side who who doesn't really understand how this is protecting them.
(09:38):
You know. The COVID nineteen pandemic showed us quite a
bit about how important public health is. And then there
was an event within the last eighteen months where hundreds
of people got sick at an event and it was
because there wasn't proper care taken. Rules weren't followed that
(09:58):
the state prescribed, uh, and it contributed to these individuals
getting sick. And I had a conversation with some of
them who said, I said, hey, you now you know
why it's so important. You go into a restaurant and
you feel safe. You you know you you you don't
get sick. Government has a role, it's a very important role.
And I think people look to government in times of
crises for solutions and to resolve their problems. We try
(10:23):
to solve them every day.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Individuals not not these big issues that happen, but someone
has a small problem. It's their own personal problem. They're
dealing with an organization or an individual and they have
nowhere else to turn and and if we have some
influence in that or we can bring it to light
to help resolve the problem we do. You know, we've
(10:47):
lacked local media like we used to have. They used
to be the ones. You know, I'm going to call
the Poughkeepsie Journal, They're going to do a story. Uh.
And we unfortunately lack a lot of local forcement because
we're so distracted by so many other things. But you know,
our representatives and our government, they're all made up of
(11:07):
very good people that don't always agree.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And I agree with good people, but I like a
lot of the people in county government. Yes, well seventeen
hundred maybe.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Not if you're just tuning in, you're listening to finding
out with Pete and the poet Gold and I'm the
poet Gold and we're here today speaking with Ron Hicks,
Assistant County Executive in economic development for the county in
the Dutchess County.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Give us a sense of what economics development is. I mean,
I mean some people will say the county shouldn't be
pushing economic development, Let's the free markets take care of it.
What do you say to that, Well.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I see that's just a small component of it. So
incentivizing a business to expand or attracting them into our
communities just a small part of it. I think economic
development is and I like to say to our local governments,
you know, cities, towns, and villages, you define what economic
(12:03):
development is for you. Let your boards and your residents
decide what economic development is. Come up with what your
vision is for the future of this area, and develop
a policy, and we'll be there with tools to support you.
It is traditionally about you know, what I call podium announcements,
announcing that this company is coming in and going to
(12:24):
bring five hundred jobs, one thousand jobs. It's about quality
of life, you know, and it's personal. So while I
look at our gross domestic product for Dutchess County since
for over the last twenty five years, and it just
trends up. It dipped down during COVID, but then has
shot up again. We see our wages second in the
(12:48):
region to Westchester. We see our industrial vacancy RACO from
fourteen percent to two percent. All the indicators would suggest
that we're in a good economy. Low unemployment, UH, inflation
is somewhat stabilized. We'll see what happens with with the
tire situation. But the indicators all look positive, but it
doesn't mean that everybody is enjoying economic development. There are
(13:11):
individuals who who are underemployed, individuals who are working three jobs,
individuals who are breathing in toxins. There's individuals who are
not getting proper healthcare. So there's food insecurity, there's housing insecurity.
Economic development is personal, it's local, and it is certainly
not all about incentives UH and big businesses. So that
(13:35):
is why we focus, uh, you know, our efforts on
workforce development, and now we're deeply involved in housing and
creating affordable housing for our residents.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I know you do with that housing, but you'll also
UH always have an all Icewood's education. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Absolutely? In fact? UH, and and that has changed. You know,
when when I was in school, I was forced into
getting a bachelor's degree. I couldn't be considered successful if
I didn't go to college. And now I'm preaching, as
many other as are that what you need is career ready.
(14:13):
You need to be career ready, and all those other
things are very important. I do not mean to take
away from the academic path, but what we need is
individuals who have skills who can go out into the
workplace and sustain themselves. So are our Pipelines to Jobs program,
which we began with aviation and second mechatronics and now
(14:35):
doctor Jordan's presidentdcc IS is bringing up HVAC, which is
heating and cooling and automotive. This is because these.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
All these heating and cooling is a discipline in order
to learn job skills.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
No, this is actually, uh, this is an industry. So HVAC.
So a lot of people think and and you know
if you think you say automotive, you say HVAC, you
think all of those you know, that's that's a dirty job.
You know, that's a You don't need a lot of education,
you need a lot of skills.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
But what we're doing is we're seeing that those jobs
are paying wages that allow people to afford a one
bedroom home or one bedroom apartment in Dutchess County. And
we need to make sure that wages going out are
sixty eight to seventy thousand dollars a year for these
first time you know, people being employed for the first
time into the workforce in order to afford an apartment
(15:33):
and these pipelines that we're creating are creating those opportunities.
Heating and cooling isn't just about an air conditioner or ductwork.
The IBM quantum and this is we have the world's
only quantum data center here at IBM Poughkeepsie has the
largest concentration of operating quantums in the world. With um
quantum computing, it's it's very difficult to explain. It is
(15:57):
well beyond us. But I would say that whoever can
harness quantum computing will have as much power as those
who who were able to create you know, the nuclear firearm,
if you will, our weapon. The HVAC technicians have to
keep that thing cool one of the coldest temperatures in
the universe, you know, like something like negative two hundred
(16:19):
and forty five degrees or more. Our robots that are
operating on logistics facilities, you know, these need constant tension,
maintenance and cooling or a motive. We have one of
my friends who owns a cars dealership on Route nine,
pays a mechanic one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars a year.
These are good wages and they can afford to live
(16:40):
in Dutchess County. So I don't mean to call out
any member of my family who's graduating soon that is
lacking a skill to be employed and will likely end
up working maybe at a restaurant or somewhere else and
not making that wage that's need in want to be
(17:00):
fully independent. So providing these skills is important, and so
we need to change the perceptions that parents have, that
guidance counselors have, that students have, that all work is good,
all work is good, and that these industries provide futures
and opportunities for them to have a good life. Not
(17:23):
everyone needs a bachelor's, master's, a PhD. It does not
guarantee success. That it does not guarantee a job, and.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
I think particularly not in the area I'm sorry I mean,
but particularly not in the area that you may have
gone to school to study.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I was.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I was one of those individuals that went to a
specialized skill set school first before entering college because I
had found that my friends who were older than me
were coming out of school and then winding up in
the same place I was at, you know, and I'm thinking, well,
you have a four year degree, you should be you know,
the illusion is that you should be with the money
(17:59):
and on top of things. And they were like, well,
you know, we're here at Catherine Gives with you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You know, that's a brilliant path, you know, Peter, you're
at the chamber breakfast. I think when I spoke about
doctor Daggett's presentation, he had shown the percentage of twelfth
graders between nineteen seventy six and twenty twenty two that
have worked, dated, tried alcohol, had a driver's license, and
(18:28):
back during the seventies, this was between eighty and ninety
percent of twelfth graders had jobs, had a driver's license, dated,
tried alcohol. I mean, I don't know why that is
on there. But now we move down to twenty twenty
two and you're talking less than fifty percent have worked,
have dated, less than sixty percent have a driver's license.
(18:51):
And it's not because they live in an urban center
where they don't need a car. It's just that they
are now on these devices communicating with each other. Are
not They're not They don't have the same experiences that
the rest of us have had. And the other chart
that I had shown there was that are our gen X,
(19:12):
the generation that was born between nineteen sixty five and
nineteen eighty, people who are between forty five and sixty
years old are managing the gen z and millennials, and
those individuals are between the ages of thirteen and forty four,
those that that core ara, that group of individuals makes
up the bulk of our workforce. But they're being managed
(19:35):
by gen zers and ex gen xers. And so what
we can't do is we can't we can't expect these
individuals to be who we were and do what we were.
And doctor Daggett says, we need to prepare students for
their future, not our past. And so these what it
(19:55):
is for you, Why don't you give that?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
You give us that one again, right.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I attributed to Bill Daggett prepare students for their future,
not our past. And our past was about getting away
from the hard work, hard labor.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
My great grandmother, you know, labored, and my great grandfather
and my grandfather labored, and even my father who's in
the construction trades. And they didn't want that. They thought
that was a hard life. They wanted us to be educated,
you know, be cultural sophisticated. They want us to learn
(20:33):
about things that they didn't have a chance to because
they had to go to war, they had to go
to work. And so we have to look at these
individuals and we have to meet them with their capacity
and their interests, because they're gonna be taking care of us, hopefully, hopefully.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Once again, if you're tuning in, you're listening to finding
Out with Pete and the Poet Gold. I'm Peter Loon
and I'm the Poet Gold and we're here with Ron Hicks,
the assistant County Executive and Economic Development for Just County
and round.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
What about you? A pass? I mean, how was is it?
You have a life in politics that most people don't
know exists, most young people don't aspire you to. But
if you give us a sense of how you of
your personal path through successful life in non electoral politics.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, well, first of all, I never wanted to go
to college when I was in high school. You know,
when I was in young when I was in elementary school,
I wanted to be a trained engineer, and I wanted
to sell cars, all these other all these interesting ideas
of what I wanted to be in the in the future,
an architect. I never thought of going into public service.
I did in high school find myself volunteering a lot,
(21:48):
and I began with American Cancer Society because volunteers. They
are not for profits, desperately need volunteers, and they give
you a lot of latitude. They let you what you
want to do, and they trust you because I have
no choice. Right and I got to I was in
this building that we're in recording right now when the
(22:10):
American Cancerciety was doing the Daffodil Festival, and a woman
named Terry Kip, who was the executive director, saw me
walk out. I was walking out because I want a
gift card on the radio, and she goes, where are
you going? And I go, I'm a kid. I go,
I'm a home. I was a senior in high school.
And she goes, where do you live? And I'm like,
I'm was brought up to be respectful, you know, so
(22:32):
I'm answering questions and I told her and she goes, well,
on your way, and she hands me a box of
bundles of daffodils with addresses on them and told me
to go deliver them. And I did what I was told,
and I was like, all right, I understood what was
going on here. And I ended up being a real
(22:54):
almost a full time volunteer, because I couldn't get no
one could hire me. I was too young to let
me do the things I wanted to do. And I
got to do events and all other kinds of things.
So I got that experience. And then getting into public
service was you know, working for the New York State
Assembly Speaker's office as an intern and being able to
solve someone's problem, and it gave me an incredible job satisfaction.
(23:18):
And from that point on, I just started to work
for elected officials. And how did you get the job?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
So I know you were Friday Hity was a very
talented political person for the Great Future, unfortunately died earlier.
How did you get that job? So?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I you know, I knew her growing up and went
to school with her son, and so we were, uh,
we were in the office after the election night and
everyone's gone, you know, after you win, it just disappears,
and you know, I I looked at Eileen, and Eileen said,
what do we do next? And I'm like I just
(23:59):
went into a mode where you know, what needs to
be done? What do I need to do? Now? We
have you have to get an office set up, you
have to all this stuff, and it just I just
fell into it, if you will. And then she was
a Democrat and then she when her when she lost
in her race. I was actually then recruited by her
Republican who called me and asked me if I was
interested in a job. Who was that This was the
(24:21):
county clerk and duchess and and uh, I was like
very yes, oh yeah, well well before this was a
long time ago, and uh, I was. He offered me
the job and he thought I had a certain skill
set that he needed, and uh and I went to
(24:44):
work from him, and we began the actual optical imaging
program that at the county Clerk's office that uh is
now routine and world images are are are online and digitized.
So we began that back way back when. And then
I went to work for I was recruited by Todd
Brinkerhoff had had brought me before George Battacky and and
(25:06):
asked me if and they asked me if I was
interested in working for the governor and so on and
so forth, and so I just stayed in government since then.
And it's not where I wanted to go. It's not
what I expected to do. I almost would have liked
to have followed in the path of the construction trades
(25:26):
and maybe done masonry or electrical or something, because I
love I do love working with my hands and creating things.
But I stayed in government, and I am proud to
say that my dad, who was a construction contractor, is IBW.
I work in a building that when it was built
he wired, which is kind of brings is nice, nice
(25:47):
for me to think about whenever I walk in there.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It must give you. I mean, I could be wrong,
but a sense of balance in understanding that you can
work for both sides, you know, I would, I would
think so that you have the skill set, in the
talent and the grounding to where people want to hire
you from both sides because they see that you can
be objective and you're going to bring your best self
(26:11):
into that space.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I think it's because I I don't know. I
don't if I look at it as working for both
sides as much as I work for the same people.
So I always consider myself working for the people and
sore happen to be whoever is in office, so long
as I don't, I don't not saying that I'm not judged.
But I want to make sure that whoever I work for,
(26:36):
you know, I believe in and I trust and and
that they are doing the right thing. At the end
of the day, that's most important to me and maintaining,
you know, my own integrity and being able to serve
the public. And we can't make everyone happy. We can't
always win, and that I struggle with that sometimes when
I can't solve someone's problem, but we try.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I you know, people can tell you're much more personable
than I am.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
So I liked you from the start and no one
understood why, but I so there's something there. I'll figure
it out forty years later.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
But uh you with some people would for it was
Dutch as count of the deep state. Do you have
any emotional reactions to that you might have been called
a deep state person?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
No, I certainly am not. I I try not to
be honest the people doing the work. Yeah, No, I
take it from a different perspective on it, And I
think I thought most people how most people would react.
It's it's there are individuals who are consumed by social
(27:48):
media and the latest what's happening and reacting and and
that is why we are so everything's so chaotic right now.
But I try to look at our government like the
stock market. You can't keep checking your balance. You just
it is what it is. It it's it's up because
of that, it's down because of this. But if you
(28:09):
look at it over the long term, it's stable. Uh,
and it's ever increasing. So I have to look at
it that way. Otherwise, when you get distracted it you
can't deliver. And uh and and that is what we're
you know, we see we're seeing in Washington. It's not new.
This isn't this administration. It's it's it's been happening for
(28:29):
for many years now. There has been just too much bickering,
too much disagreement where they aren't looking for common ground.
They're looking at you know, uh, what what what this
person did wrong? Or how this person reacted to what
I proposed.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
We got to get back to common ground.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
A blame is a detrimental thing, and lots of people
when they see a problem, they want to know who
to blame rather than how to fix it.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
And we as the public fall into that. You know,
we as well.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
We're all responsible because we at the end of the day,
we put individuals in office right, we lack them, and
and I do believe everyone should participate. If if we
all did, if we all really participated, you know, we
we might have different outcomes in the future. And that
that includes going to planning board meetings and town board meetings.
(29:24):
I am guilty. I cannot, you know, go to all
of them, and I can't, and I many times don't
want to. But participation is important and it's essential to
our democracy. I think the the chaos is because we're
allowing these these shows to go on.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
We're enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, yeah, it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
It's on the other side of it, you know, is that, uh,
there are very few instancy of people in politics, and
people might lie, they might do different kinds of stuff,
but you a notion. Everyone wants to do something that's
good for somebody else. And there's very different and genuine
conception of what good is.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yea, and the path the path to that. I think
we all want the same, you know. We all want
national security, we all want you know, good jobs, we
all want housing security, food security. We want to be
a respected, strong nation. It's how we get to that point.
And again, when you get caught up in the details,
things deteriorate, and.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I think we also all want to get to the
end of the show all right, Ron. We love having
you Wise, but thanks for being with.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Us absolutely, Ron, And thank you to our listeners for
listening to finding out with Pete and the poet Gold.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
We appreciate you.
The views and opinions expressed in the following programmer those
of the speaker and don't necessarily represent those of the
station's staff, management, or ownership.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And good morning you'll find out with Pete and the
Poet Gold, I'm Peter and I'm the poet Gold, and
man we are on the EDD this morning with Ron Hicks,
the assistant County Executive in Dutchess County for Economic Development.
And before we get to Ron and all his exciting news,
we're going to go right to the poet Gold for
her weekly prayer poem incantation Gold, please let it roll. Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
So this month we're also honoring Poetry Month, and so
I've chosen to read poems from a book I edited
called Mightier Poets for Social Justice. It was edited by me,
and it's on Caps Publishing, And I'm going to read
poets Sandra yan Nun I believe I'm pronouncing her name correctly,
or yan one. And the poem is entitled occupy Sonnet
(00:55):
because everything is broken in this country of squandered and
pillaged dream. Even the sonnet's usual bliss can't write itself
in fourteen jagged lines. When all is said and done,
this sonnet will list like the Andrea Doria mortally wounded
off the Stone coast of New England, her swaying lifeboats,
unhinged from the debits, the syllables too far and few
(01:19):
between governments, banks and poets to save everyone from the print,
sanctioning drowning. So this sonnet ends.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I don't know if that's scary a why, but I
liked the where you read it. One of the things
we wanted to make sure I took note of it
before we got it on the air. You said, well,
I don't really do policies. I'm campaigning. Give me a sense.
(01:49):
I've known you for a long time, but I don't
have a sense of what your relationship is to politics.
I know what your relationship is to projects and accomplishment,
but what's your How do you think of yourself in
terms of a political landscape.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Not in terms of a political landscape at all, but
as a public servant. So I've worked for both Democrats
and Republicans at different levels of government, and I'm a
public servant. So I found out early on when I
was actually interning in college for the speaker of the
(02:26):
New York City Assembly's regional office, how much power elected
officials have to help people if they choose, And I
got incredible job satisfaction out of helping someone who called
had a problem. So I've always had this sense that,
you know, government has an obligation to help people, regardless
(02:47):
of their individual's opinions or the issue. We do have
answers and we have ways of giving people direction, and
I've always felt that obligation, and so that is why
I remain in government. So I'm an appointed official and
this recent this post that I have now I've been
(03:10):
here almost thirteen years. A condition when I came back
into this world and back to my home county was that,
you know, I wasn't going to be partisan. I wasn't
going to be doing political things or campaigning. I need
to work with everyone to get things done. And that
was the design. And I do truly believe that, you know,
there's a time for campaign and then there's a time
(03:31):
to get things done, and that's when we need to
focus to work together and solve our problems. And then
campaigns come along and they do what they need to do.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
It takes great objectivity to be able to you know,
sort of step back and be in that role of
public servant. You know, I'm wondering if there was ever
a space where you felt challenged in that capacity based
upon your own individual beliefs.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Every day, every day. We're in some really interesting times
right now where there's a great deal of uncertainty. Everything's
being tested, and it makes it very difficult because I
think people and including myself, particularly over the last say
(04:18):
five six years, distrusts government more than they ever have before,
and I myself question it sometimes. But I think it's
important to have good people. I'm not patting myself on
the back. I try to be the best person I
can be. But there are an incredible number of people working,
(04:38):
Like in the county we have seventeen hundred people working
for county government. Whether you agree or disagree with any
of the elected individuals, there are those others who are
working hard every day to make a difference and get
things done. So you only get to see what the
news media choose to present as a represent of the government,
(05:03):
but there's a lot going on behind the scenes that
make a difference a goal.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I'm surprised by the answer, are you I mean? And
what I spect I'm surprised by the answer first of all,
for somebody who I've only known ron as a person
attached to politics, I know at least twenty or thirty years, right,
And then to hear this perspective is a genuinely nonpartisan perspective.
(05:31):
That and when you say government has some answers and
it's important for us to implement them, that's a very
bright form of political life. And I never heard it
the point, I never heard that perspective on a political
(05:53):
career or political vocation. Put that way, then when elections come,
your back off, whereas everyone else is dying to get
into the election, and repeature of the eyeballs out.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Well, I think that that you know, the question that
you asked me originally, and I'm glad thank you for explaining,
you know what you meant that they're human beings, you know,
in making these policies that are that are doing the work.
So I agree the answers are there because the answers
come from the people, you know, and so so right,
(06:24):
the answers are there. But whether or not if those
answers are being implemented is a whole nother different thing,
you know, if it's getting caught up in this sort
of divisive funnel, so to speak, is a whole other
thing to address. But because I believe there are some intelligent, kind,
(06:46):
morally grounded human beings that yeah, the answers can be there, and.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Ron, I agree with your gold, But I also.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Think that I'm surprise by I'm surprised with.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Even the part government has some answers. I mean, there's
you know, political party in our country says the problem
is the government. And I think that even people in
that part I'm obviously such a Republican party, even people
in that party actually think government does have some answer
and we've got to get to them.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You know, I don't want to misrepresent here. I deal
with government myself. I work for a government. I am
battling on a regular basis other governments, uh, that regulate us.
I'm dealing with New York State and a couple of
their regulatory authorities right now that make it incredibly difficult
(07:47):
for me to do my job, that make it difficult
for us to to adopt a budget. What what happens
is there are always good intentions behind most of the
time behind legend. A representative or elected will propose legislation
and oftentimes you know, they get left up to the
(08:09):
departments to promulgate the rules, who really never understood the spirit,
but just know that they have to now do this
and and so bureaucracies, there's we don't have enough time
on the show to talk about this. But bureaucracies are
a good thing, and their isolation is a good thing. However,
(08:30):
they can also if left to their own devices and
left unchecked, and they can be bad things. Again, I
deal with this every day. Individuals are implementing what has
been set forth by a bureaucracy after a piece of
legislation has been passed, and it's not theirs to interpret anymore.
(08:53):
So if you have I'll take a health inspector, for example,
who goes into a restaurant. They get a lot of
pushback from a restaurant tour you know about adhering to
the code. These are laws that were created by New
York State that were then you know, developed, The rules
were developed by the Department of Health, and now the
(09:13):
county is forced mandated to enforce them. So you have
an inspector who goes into a restaurant and has to
cite a restaurant for this, this, this, and this, because
that's what New York State Laws says, and that individuals
just doing their job. They're trying to do their job,
and they've got to deal with someone on the other
side who who doesn't really understand how this is protecting them.
(09:38):
You know. The COVID nineteen pandemic showed us quite a
bit about how important public health is. And then there
was an event within the last eighteen months where hundreds
of people got sick at an event and it was
because there wasn't proper care taken. Rules weren't followed that
(09:58):
the state prescribed, uh, and it contributed to these individuals
getting sick. And I had a conversation with some of
them who said, I said, hey, you now you know
why it's so important. You go into a restaurant and
you feel safe. You you know you you you don't
get sick. Government has a role, it's a very important role.
And I think people look to government in times of
crises for solutions and to resolve their problems. We try
(10:23):
to solve them every day.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Individuals not not these big issues that happen, but someone
has a small problem. It's their own personal problem. They're
dealing with an organization or an individual and they have
nowhere else to turn and and if we have some
influence in that or we can bring it to light
to help resolve the problem we do. You know, we've
(10:47):
lacked local media like we used to have. They used
to be the ones. You know, I'm going to call
the Poughkeepsie Journal, They're going to do a story. Uh.
And we unfortunately lack a lot of local forcement because
we're so distracted by so many other things. But you know,
our representatives and our government, they're all made up of
(11:07):
very good people that don't always agree.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And I agree with good people, but I like a
lot of the people in county government. Yes, well seventeen
hundred maybe.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Not if you're just tuning in, you're listening to finding
out with Pete and the poet Gold and I'm the
poet Gold and we're here today speaking with Ron Hicks,
Assistant County Executive in economic development for the county in
the Dutchess County.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Give us a sense of what economics development is. I mean,
I mean some people will say the county shouldn't be
pushing economic development, Let's the free markets take care of it.
What do you say to that, Well.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I see that's just a small component of it. So
incentivizing a business to expand or attracting them into our
communities just a small part of it. I think economic
development is and I like to say to our local governments,
you know, cities, towns, and villages, you define what economic
(12:03):
development is for you. Let your boards and your residents
decide what economic development is. Come up with what your
vision is for the future of this area, and develop
a policy, and we'll be there with tools to support you.
It is traditionally about you know, what I call podium announcements,
announcing that this company is coming in and going to
(12:24):
bring five hundred jobs, one thousand jobs. It's about quality
of life, you know, and it's personal. So while I
look at our gross domestic product for Dutchess County since
for over the last twenty five years, and it just
trends up. It dipped down during COVID, but then has
shot up again. We see our wages second in the
(12:48):
region to Westchester. We see our industrial vacancy RACO from
fourteen percent to two percent. All the indicators would suggest
that we're in a good economy. Low unemployment, UH, inflation
is somewhat stabilized. We'll see what happens with with the
tire situation. But the indicators all look positive, but it
doesn't mean that everybody is enjoying economic development. There are
(13:11):
individuals who who are underemployed, individuals who are working three jobs,
individuals who are breathing in toxins. There's individuals who are
not getting proper healthcare. So there's food insecurity, there's housing insecurity.
Economic development is personal, it's local, and it is certainly
not all about incentives UH and big businesses. So that
(13:35):
is why we focus, uh, you know, our efforts on
workforce development, and now we're deeply involved in housing and
creating affordable housing for our residents.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I know you do with that housing, but you'll also
UH always have an all Icewood's education. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Absolutely? In fact? UH, and and that has changed. You know,
when when I was in school, I was forced into
getting a bachelor's degree. I couldn't be considered successful if
I didn't go to college. And now I'm preaching, as
many other as are that what you need is career ready.
(14:13):
You need to be career ready, and all those other
things are very important. I do not mean to take
away from the academic path, but what we need is
individuals who have skills who can go out into the
workplace and sustain themselves. So are our Pipelines to Jobs program,
which we began with aviation and second mechatronics and now
(14:35):
doctor Jordan's presidentdcc IS is bringing up HVAC, which is
heating and cooling and automotive. This is because these.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
All these heating and cooling is a discipline in order
to learn job skills.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
No, this is actually, uh, this is an industry. So HVAC.
So a lot of people think and and you know
if you think you say automotive, you say HVAC, you
think all of those you know, that's that's a dirty job.
You know, that's a You don't need a lot of education,
you need a lot of skills.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
But what we're doing is we're seeing that those jobs
are paying wages that allow people to afford a one
bedroom home or one bedroom apartment in Dutchess County. And
we need to make sure that wages going out are
sixty eight to seventy thousand dollars a year for these
first time you know, people being employed for the first
time into the workforce in order to afford an apartment
(15:33):
and these pipelines that we're creating are creating those opportunities.
Heating and cooling isn't just about an air conditioner or ductwork.
The IBM quantum and this is we have the world's
only quantum data center here at IBM Poughkeepsie has the
largest concentration of operating quantums in the world. With um
quantum computing, it's it's very difficult to explain. It is
(15:57):
well beyond us. But I would say that whoever can
harness quantum computing will have as much power as those
who who were able to create you know, the nuclear firearm,
if you will, our weapon. The HVAC technicians have to
keep that thing cool one of the coldest temperatures in
the universe, you know, like something like negative two hundred
(16:19):
and forty five degrees or more. Our robots that are
operating on logistics facilities, you know, these need constant tension,
maintenance and cooling or a motive. We have one of
my friends who owns a cars dealership on Route nine,
pays a mechanic one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars a year.
These are good wages and they can afford to live
(16:40):
in Dutchess County. So I don't mean to call out
any member of my family who's graduating soon that is
lacking a skill to be employed and will likely end
up working maybe at a restaurant or somewhere else and
not making that wage that's need in want to be
(17:00):
fully independent. So providing these skills is important, and so
we need to change the perceptions that parents have, that
guidance counselors have, that students have, that all work is good,
all work is good, and that these industries provide futures
and opportunities for them to have a good life. Not
(17:23):
everyone needs a bachelor's, master's, a PhD. It does not
guarantee success. That it does not guarantee a job, and.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
I think particularly not in the area I'm sorry I mean,
but particularly not in the area that you may have
gone to school to study.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I was.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I was one of those individuals that went to a
specialized skill set school first before entering college because I
had found that my friends who were older than me
were coming out of school and then winding up in
the same place I was at, you know, and I'm thinking, well,
you have a four year degree, you should be you know,
the illusion is that you should be with the money
(17:59):
and on top of things. And they were like, well,
you know, we're here at Catherine Gives with you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You know, that's a brilliant path, you know, Peter, you're
at the chamber breakfast. I think when I spoke about
doctor Daggett's presentation, he had shown the percentage of twelfth
graders between nineteen seventy six and twenty twenty two that
have worked, dated, tried alcohol, had a driver's license, and
(18:28):
back during the seventies, this was between eighty and ninety
percent of twelfth graders had jobs, had a driver's license, dated,
tried alcohol. I mean, I don't know why that is
on there. But now we move down to twenty twenty
two and you're talking less than fifty percent have worked,
have dated, less than sixty percent have a driver's license.
(18:51):
And it's not because they live in an urban center
where they don't need a car. It's just that they
are now on these devices communicating with each other. Are
not They're not They don't have the same experiences that
the rest of us have had. And the other chart
that I had shown there was that are our gen X,
(19:12):
the generation that was born between nineteen sixty five and
nineteen eighty, people who are between forty five and sixty
years old are managing the gen z and millennials, and
those individuals are between the ages of thirteen and forty four,
those that that core ara, that group of individuals makes
up the bulk of our workforce. But they're being managed
(19:35):
by gen zers and ex gen xers. And so what
we can't do is we can't we can't expect these
individuals to be who we were and do what we were.
And doctor Daggett says, we need to prepare students for
their future, not our past. And so these what it
(19:55):
is for you, Why don't you give that?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
You give us that one again, right.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I attributed to Bill Daggett prepare students for their future,
not our past. And our past was about getting away
from the hard work, hard labor.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
My great grandmother, you know, labored, and my great grandfather
and my grandfather labored, and even my father who's in
the construction trades. And they didn't want that. They thought
that was a hard life. They wanted us to be educated,
you know, be cultural sophisticated. They want us to learn
(20:33):
about things that they didn't have a chance to because
they had to go to war, they had to go
to work. And so we have to look at these
individuals and we have to meet them with their capacity
and their interests, because they're gonna be taking care of us, hopefully, hopefully.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Once again, if you're tuning in, you're listening to finding
Out with Pete and the Poet Gold. I'm Peter Loon
and I'm the Poet Gold and we're here with Ron Hicks,
the assistant County Executive and Economic Development for Just County
and round.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
What about you? A pass? I mean, how was is it?
You have a life in politics that most people don't
know exists, most young people don't aspire you to. But
if you give us a sense of how you of
your personal path through successful life in non electoral politics.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, well, first of all, I never wanted to go
to college when I was in high school. You know,
when I was in young when I was in elementary school,
I wanted to be a trained engineer, and I wanted
to sell cars, all these other all these interesting ideas
of what I wanted to be in the in the future,
an architect. I never thought of going into public service.
I did in high school find myself volunteering a lot,
(21:48):
and I began with American Cancer Society because volunteers. They
are not for profits, desperately need volunteers, and they give
you a lot of latitude. They let you what you
want to do, and they trust you because I have
no choice. Right and I got to I was in
this building that we're in recording right now when the
(22:10):
American Cancerciety was doing the Daffodil Festival, and a woman
named Terry Kip, who was the executive director, saw me
walk out. I was walking out because I want a
gift card on the radio, and she goes, where are
you going? And I go, I'm a kid. I go,
I'm a home. I was a senior in high school.
And she goes, where do you live? And I'm like,
I'm was brought up to be respectful, you know, so
(22:32):
I'm answering questions and I told her and she goes, well,
on your way, and she hands me a box of
bundles of daffodils with addresses on them and told me
to go deliver them. And I did what I was told,
and I was like, all right, I understood what was
going on here. And I ended up being a real
(22:54):
almost a full time volunteer, because I couldn't get no
one could hire me. I was too young to let
me do the things I wanted to do. And I
got to do events and all other kinds of things.
So I got that experience. And then getting into public
service was you know, working for the New York State
Assembly Speaker's office as an intern and being able to
solve someone's problem, and it gave me an incredible job satisfaction.
(23:18):
And from that point on, I just started to work
for elected officials. And how did you get the job?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
So I know you were Friday Hity was a very
talented political person for the Great Future, unfortunately died earlier.
How did you get that job? So?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I you know, I knew her growing up and went
to school with her son, and so we were, uh,
we were in the office after the election night and
everyone's gone, you know, after you win, it just disappears,
and you know, I I looked at Eileen, and Eileen said,
what do we do next? And I'm like I just
(23:59):
went into a mode where you know, what needs to
be done? What do I need to do? Now? We
have you have to get an office set up, you
have to all this stuff, and it just I just
fell into it, if you will. And then she was
a Democrat and then she when her when she lost
in her race. I was actually then recruited by her
Republican who called me and asked me if I was
interested in a job. Who was that This was the
(24:21):
county clerk and duchess and and uh, I was like
very yes, oh yeah, well well before this was a
long time ago, and uh, I was. He offered me
the job and he thought I had a certain skill
set that he needed, and uh and I went to
(24:44):
work from him, and we began the actual optical imaging
program that at the county Clerk's office that uh is
now routine and world images are are are online and digitized.
So we began that back way back when. And then
I went to work for I was recruited by Todd
Brinkerhoff had had brought me before George Battacky and and
(25:06):
asked me if and they asked me if I was
interested in working for the governor and so on and
so forth, and so I just stayed in government since then.
And it's not where I wanted to go. It's not
what I expected to do. I almost would have liked
to have followed in the path of the construction trades
(25:26):
and maybe done masonry or electrical or something, because I
love I do love working with my hands and creating things.
But I stayed in government, and I am proud to
say that my dad, who was a construction contractor, is IBW.
I work in a building that when it was built
he wired, which is kind of brings is nice, nice
(25:47):
for me to think about whenever I walk in there.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It must give you. I mean, I could be wrong,
but a sense of balance in understanding that you can
work for both sides, you know, I would, I would
think so that you have the skill set, in the
talent and the grounding to where people want to hire
you from both sides because they see that you can
be objective and you're going to bring your best self
(26:11):
into that space.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I think it's because I I don't know. I
don't if I look at it as working for both
sides as much as I work for the same people.
So I always consider myself working for the people and
sore happen to be whoever is in office, so long
as I don't, I don't not saying that I'm not judged.
But I want to make sure that whoever I work for,
(26:36):
you know, I believe in and I trust and and
that they are doing the right thing. At the end
of the day, that's most important to me and maintaining,
you know, my own integrity and being able to serve
the public. And we can't make everyone happy. We can't
always win, and that I struggle with that sometimes when
I can't solve someone's problem, but we try.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I you know, people can tell you're much more personable
than I am.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
So I liked you from the start and no one
understood why, but I so there's something there. I'll figure
it out forty years later.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
But uh you with some people would for it was
Dutch as count of the deep state. Do you have
any emotional reactions to that you might have been called
a deep state person?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
No, I certainly am not. I I try not to
be honest the people doing the work. Yeah, No, I
take it from a different perspective on it, And I
think I thought most people how most people would react.
It's it's there are individuals who are consumed by social
(27:48):
media and the latest what's happening and reacting and and
that is why we are so everything's so chaotic right now.
But I try to look at our government like the
stock market. You can't keep checking your balance. You just
it is what it is. It it's it's up because
of that, it's down because of this. But if you
(28:09):
look at it over the long term, it's stable. Uh,
and it's ever increasing. So I have to look at
it that way. Otherwise, when you get distracted it you
can't deliver. And uh and and that is what we're
you know, we see we're seeing in Washington. It's not new.
This isn't this administration. It's it's it's been happening for
(28:29):
for many years now. There has been just too much bickering,
too much disagreement where they aren't looking for common ground.
They're looking at you know, uh, what what what this
person did wrong? Or how this person reacted to what
I proposed.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
We got to get back to common ground.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
A blame is a detrimental thing, and lots of people
when they see a problem, they want to know who
to blame rather than how to fix it.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
And we as the public fall into that. You know,
we as well.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
We're all responsible because we at the end of the day,
we put individuals in office right, we lack them, and
and I do believe everyone should participate. If if we
all did, if we all really participated, you know, we
we might have different outcomes in the future. And that
that includes going to planning board meetings and town board meetings.
(29:24):
I am guilty. I cannot, you know, go to all
of them, and I can't, and I many times don't
want to. But participation is important and it's essential to
our democracy. I think the the chaos is because we're
allowing these these shows to go on.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
We're enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, yeah, it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
It's on the other side of it, you know, is that, uh,
there are very few instancy of people in politics, and
people might lie, they might do different kinds of stuff,
but you a notion. Everyone wants to do something that's
good for somebody else. And there's very different and genuine
conception of what good is.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yea, and the path the path to that. I think
we all want the same, you know. We all want
national security, we all want you know, good jobs, we
all want housing security, food security. We want to be
a respected, strong nation. It's how we get to that point.
And again, when you get caught up in the details,
things deteriorate, and.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I think we also all want to get to the
end of the show all right, Ron. We love having
you Wise, but thanks for being with.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Us absolutely, Ron, And thank you to our listeners for
listening to finding out with Pete and the poet Gold.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
We appreciate you.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!