Ulster County approves $100,000 contract with Soil & Water for watershed coordinator despite capacity concerns

On April 1, 2025, the Ulster County Legislature’s Economic Development, Planning, Education, Employment, Arts and Agriculture Committee voted to authorize a $100,000 contract with the Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District to provide technical services and a watershed coordinator for three county watershed plans.

The contract covers coordination and implementation support for the Lower Esopus Stream Management Plan, the Rondout Creek Watershed Management Plan (including upper Rondout work), and the Wallkill River watershed efforts. The committee motion to adopt the contract was made and seconded; the committee chair called for a vote and members responded “Aye,” approving the measure.

County and district officials spent the bulk of the meeting discussing whether the district has the staff and office capacity to deliver on the contract. Jake Wiedermeier, executive director of the Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, told the committee the district is “overextended right now,” citing lost USDA engineering support, multiple large projects and staff shortages. “We have $3,900,000 worth of projects to do by December 31,” Wiedermeier said, and added the district will be onboarding a stream project manager in May. “We feel overextended right now,” he said.

Planning staff said the contract is meant primarily to fund a coordinator position and to formalize coordination between the county planning department, the Department of the Environment and the district. “Absent a coordination effort housed in the district, a lot of the work … require district participation,” Dr. Doyle said. He added that the county and planning department had worked to address district concerns about office space and up-front funding and recommended the board consider the contract now.

Committee members noted the district’s heavy workload but said the county offer includes some mitigations. Legislator Stewart and others pointed to the Hudson River Foundation funding that will cover part of the coordinator salary for multiple years, and offered to consider additional county funding if the district’s staffing shortfall persists.

The committee also received an email read into the record from Leonard Tantillo, chair of the Soil and Water Conservation District board, stating the district board “have not reviewed and approved a contract with the county” and expressing concern that the district “did not ask for nor have the bandwidth to do [these deliverables] based on current staffing shortages in 2025.” The email was entered into the record by a committee member and included in discussion.

After extended discussion and assurances that outstanding contract language and logistics would be finalized with the district board, the committee moved to adopt the resolution. The motion carried with committee members responding “Aye.”

The county will execute the $100,000 agreement with the Soil and Water Conservation District; the resolution as presented requires the district and county to coordinate quarterly reporting and deliverables tied to the three watershed plans. The committee directed county staff to continue negotiations with the district board on final contract terms and supports monitoring capacity and deliverable schedules.

The district and county agreed to keep the District Board apprised and to return to the legislature if additional county support or contract amendments prove necessary.