Marcus J. Molinaro
Dutchess County Executive
December 16, 2022
Twenty-eight years ago, just a teenager in Tivoli, I raised my right hand and, for the first time, I took an oath to uphold, protect, and defend the laws and Constitution of the State of New York and the laws and Constitution of the United States – a Constitution ratified in Poughkeepsie, at the County Courthouse, just next door.
These days I often recall how I felt then – the excitement, uncertainty, and enthusiasm – and how these years of holding elected office have shaped and defined my love of public service.
Twenty-eight years and 16 oaths of office later, you will find no one more grateful for this community and its people than me. A product of three local school districts and graduate from our county’s academic jewel, Dutchess Community College, I met my wife, Corinne, at a John Flowers celebration, fell in love at a great Dutchess County park, and we continue to raise our family in the corner of Dutchess that raised me.
Dutchess County is a special place. Having traveled extensively throughout New York, I know this firsthand. For my entire adult life, I’ve had the honor of representing and serving the people of this great county – first as a village trustee, mayor, and county legislator, then State Assemblyman, and for the last 11 years, this entire community as your County Executive. We’ve laughed together, cried together. We’ve triumphed in one another’s joys and mourned each other’s sorrows. We have learned, grown, innovated, and thrived together.
We have repeatedly reached across the aisle, across the state, and across the nation to improve the life of our community and the lives of those who call it home. Make no mistake: Our collaborative approach has made an immeasurable impact on the lives of countless County residents — it has literally saved lives and rebuilt communities – and as I leave this office, I trust that sense of cooperation and understanding will long prevail.
It is truly a testament to all of you, that we achieved so much by working together, learning from, and caring for one another at a time when our nation is so divided.
Tackling the big problems too often feels hopelessly beyond the reach of our state and federal governments. Even addressing the day-to-day responsibilities of providing the most basic essential services seems outside the grasp of a government too often outdated, outmoded, and uncaring.
These failures have consequences and continue to erode the people’s overall confidence in government. It has led to people “working around” a broken system.
For the last 11 years, we have made it our mission to ensure Dutchess is responsive, responsible, effective, and efficient. When anger and hate have threatened to undo us, we have met it with calls for unity and love. When those most vulnerable were struggling too hard and knocked on our door, we open our homes with compassion and care. And when these dizzying times have asked us to ignore reason and respect, we responded with focus, logic, inclusion, fairness.
Together, we turned budget challenges and a recession-fueled quagmire into the strongest fiscal foundation of any county in New York. We provided meaningful relief cutting County taxes to the lowest in 14 years. And we’ve made government smaller, smarter, and more effective.
Those with mental illness are too often tossed on the streets by their own government. We then wonder why we face increasing acts of random violence and desperation. In Dutchess County, we built a national model of community-based mental health services with the broadest network of any county in America.
Acknowledging the soft prejudice of low expectation, we asked each other and the world to ThinkDIFFERENTLY. And in so doing, we changed the culture and attitude toward those with different abilities. We have embraced our neighbors with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. It was us who built a place that recognizes the humanity in everyone of every ability.
Over my tenure, we expanded care for our parents and grandparents, celebrated the sacrifice and service of our servicemen, women, and veterans, and are transforming the lives of our kids with innovative new programming and a state-of-the-art countywide youth center.
Together, we funded our police and stood with victims, empowered not-for-profits and partnered with farmers and small businesses. Through our collaboration with supervisors, mayors, and local leaders, we have been rebuilding our economy, revitalizing our communities, and making government work for you, rather than making you work to serve it.
We protected open space and farmland and led the fight to protect water quality and the Hudson River. We preserved our rich history, while putting us on the map, making us a popular destination. We supported those who with bright colors and boldness tell, write, paint, and perform the story of who we are and how we hope to live.
I am proud of what we have accomplished together and grateful for the lasting change we have delivered for our residents – both today and years into the future.
Though I stand alone at this podium, I am well aware that nothing we have achieved is the work of any one individual alone. I’ve had the good fortune to have been a part of an amazing team — smart, skilled, caring professionals who accepted the challenge of working for this community, and they have flourished.
Through storms and celebrations, opposition and opportunity, my senior staff has admirably risen to the challenge, and you have each earned my unyielding respect and admiration. More than simply “the Sixth Floor,” as many refer to this office, we are a family, and I will miss you and your contributions more than you’ll ever know.
No problem we solved, no challenge met, no bridge built, no program developed was accomplished by one mind nor one set of hands. Dutchess County is blessed to have over 1,800 devoted men and women whose daily work serves, protects, and provides for the countless needs of the nearly 300,000 people who call Dutchess home. At all hours, every day, County Government employees work to make our communities better and safer. I’m grateful to all of you for your dedicated service.
Overseeing this workforce is a group of talented and passionate individuals who ensure each department, division, and office work to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. To these department heads, I thank you for your unwavering duty.
Everyone in this room and those in every corner of Dutchess County have, for years, believed in a shared vision for our community – and while those conceptions have, at times, varied greatly, depending on our individual passions, goals, aspirations, and politics – we’ve all laid claim to one indelible commitment: to make a difference.
I, too, know well that my time here should be judged not only for the successes, but also for the missteps. Those are mine and mine alone. But what I hope might be remembered is that we were not afraid to make mistakes. For it was in those moments that we tested our solutions, pushed our limits, fell but lifted ourselves, and carried on.
From the day I took office in January 2012, your faith has inspired me and it is my humble hope that I’ve done good and made you proud – that Dutchess County is a better place to live, work, and raise a family now than it was when we undertook this partnership 11 years ago.
Today, though, is not a day to dwell on the past, it’s an opportunity to look to the future. The dusk of one day makes way to the break of a new and glorious morning. And while saying goodbye is one of the solemn duties of an elected official, it is still so very difficult. Why? Well, because I love this job and all of you so very much.
But I couldn’t be happier that my trusted friend and longtime Deputy County Executive, Bill O’Neil, will assume this role. Bill’s decades of experience and passion for this community will serve you well. I know in the coming year, he will continue our work and leave a lasting legacy of his own.
To my partners in government, thank you. Mayors and supervisors, Comptroller Robin Lois, District Attorney Bill Grady, Sheriff Kirk Imperati, and County Clerk Brad Kendall, thank you for your partnership and friendship. It has been the honor of my life to serve the residents of Dutchess County alongside you. Please continue striving to improve the lives of all those who call this amazing county home.
And to my friend, Chairman Gregg Pulver, and the leadership and members of the Dutchess County Legislature, meet each other honestly and earnestly; remember it’s not the government’s money, it’s the taxpayers’; do good; treat each other well; and do not let the moments to collaborate in the service of our treasured community pass you by. Thank you.
In a matter of days, I assume a new role, one with new challenges and ripe with opportunities, but please know I take you – all of you – and the lessons we’ve learned together with me. Though I leave this place, this place will never leave me.
I thank you all for the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to serve you, the responsibility to lead, and the opportunity to learn. I hope it might be said of our time together that we didn’t serve to make a point; we served to make a difference. And in that, my friends, we did it. We made a difference.
What we have built together will last for generations to come. We made Dutchess County stronger and safer. We made her more caring and secure. And we leave this community, which I love, in good hands. May God bless you. May He continue to bless Dutchess County. And may He bless the United States of America.
