Trash talk dominated Tuesday night's meeting of the Ulster County Legislature – what to do about it, how and where. Specifically, whether or not to grant the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency permission to issue $10 million of bonds for the agency's proposed “Reuse Innovation Center,” a sort of Habitat for Humanity-style operation to divert salvageable items and material from our main waste stream rather than ship them to the Finger Lakes area landfill. If enough diversion and other waste-reducing measures are taken, the Town of Wawarsing might get off the hook of having to host one within its borders.

UCCRA's bonds will be used for the purchase of two adjoined Town of Ulster properties that presently house a 20,000-square-foot office building (the agency will take on the role of landlord), and a 30,000-square-foot building that will be retrofitted for recycling and retailing.

Objections to the measure fell out along party lines, on matters both of procedure and feasibility.

Legislator Eric Kitchen (R-Town of Ulster) was particularly skeptical. Referring to the RIC, which would be built within the borders of his own district, as “this picker store or whatever you wanna call it” and worrying about the effect of traffic and noise on nearby residences in his district, he said. “I don't think we should be in the junk business ... I don't see where the money is.”

Democratic legislators jumped on Kitchen's remarks with the news that, as Legislator Jeff Collins (D-Woodstock) put it, “We're already in the junk business. We're just trying to find a way to monetize it.” Collins spoke highly of a similar recycling project in Tompkins County which UCRRA has cited as a model.

GOP legislators also objected to what they characterized as a surrender of oversight power if UCRRA's requested bonding authority was granted. The agency has sole authority over bonds of less than $500,000; the Legislature must approve any bonds in excess of that number. Several Democratic legislators replied that this measure was a one-off and was, in fact, an exercise rather than an abdication of authority.

Legislative Minority Leader Kevin Roberts (R-Plattekill) accused the agency of a sneak attack. It “sounds great,” he said but complained that despite “five months of study” the legislature was given “last minute notice” of the bond proposal, which he dismissed as a “$10 million boondoggle.”

Legislator Joe Maloney (R-Saugerties), as is his practice, took the occasion to turn the debate into a rant about “one-party rule” where “decisions are being made by the executive, not the legislature.” The RIC, he said, is “not ready to go” and the bond measure was “an agenda-driven resolution.” (Prompting the question: What resolution lacks an agenda?)

Put to a vote, the bond authorization proposal passed 15-8. Legislator Richard Walls (R-Shawangunk) was the only GOP member to break ranks.

The evening's other main focus was County Executive Jen Metzger's proposal for up to 12 weeks of paid time off for full-time county workers for parental leave (including adoptions) at full pay. And while there was no lack of grousing about the measure from GOP legislators, parenting proved too sacred a cow for some, like Legislator Herb Litts (R-Lloyd), who voted yes, with reservations, and argued for expanded benefits to include leave for elder care.

Democratic legislators praised the measure as superior to a similar state program and a boost to employee morale and retention. Republicans questioned the timing of the measure, Roberts suggesting it was Metzger's effort to appease employees in the aftermath of her veto of a pay raise for some county workers late last year — on the grounds that it was an end run around the legally mandated collective bargaining process.

In the event, parental leave was approved 19-4. Roberts voted no, as did Legislators Jason Kovacs (R-Town of Ulster) and Craig Lopez (R-Wawarsing/Shawangunk), who both said they were concerned at a “lack of detail.” Maloney also voted no, and warned that out-of-control spending is going to result in future generations of Ulsterites “speaking Chinese.”