Community College and Trade School, Here in Putnam County

For too long, Putnam County has treated the future like something that happens somewhere else.

We have watched our young people graduate, look around, and realize there are fewer and fewer pathways for them to build a life here. We have watched families struggle with affordability. We have watched adults seek new skills, new careers, and new opportunities, often with nowhere local to turn.

At the same time, Putnam spends millions of county tax dollars every year to send our residents to community colleges in other counties.

Think about that.

We are paying to send opportunity out of Putnam County, while our own young people are leaving at an alarming rate.

It does not have to be this way.

Putnam County should have a community college and trade school right here at home.

An investment in the whole county

A Putnam Careers Campus would create real pathways for students, working adults, seniors, veterans, and anyone looking to build skills for the modern economy. It would help our young people stay rooted here. It would help adults transition into better-paying careers. It would help seniors continue learning, connecting, and contributing. It would support local businesses that need trained workers. It would give our county a real economic engine for the future.

And we can do it without raising taxes.

For years, Putnam County has followed Tax and Hoard policies that take in more from taxpayers than needed, then leave tens of millions of dollars sitting idle in an unassigned fund balance. Today, more than $80 million of taxpayer money is parked there while our buildings deteriorate, our young people leave, and our communities wait for leadership.

That money should be put to work responsibly. We can invest in infrastructure, education, workforce development, and long-term growth while still maintaining strong reserves and fiscal discipline.

The choice is not between being responsible and being ambitious. Putnam can be both.

A community college and trade school would allow us to build programs around the needs of our county and the realities of the future. Nursing, emergency medical services, water and wastewater management, construction trades, clean energy, cybersecurity, agriculture, early childhood education, and skilled trades all belong in this conversation.

These are jobs that cannot simply be outsourced. Many of them cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. As AI reshapes entire industries, counties that invest in practical skills, technical education, and workforce readiness will have a major advantage.

Putnam should be one of those counties.

We should be preparing our young people not just to survive the future, but to lead in it. We should be giving adults the opportunity to retool and retrain without having to leave the county. We should be creating partnerships with labor, local employers, schools, farms, small businesses, and regional institutions so residents can move from the classroom into real careers.

bringing run down buildings back to life

This is also about revitalization.

Across Putnam, we have buildings and properties that have been allowed to sit vacant, deteriorate, and become symbols of neglect. Instead of accepting decline, we should be looking at how to bring new life into these spaces. A community college and trade school campus could help turn underused or dilapidated properties into places of learning, work, and opportunity.

That is how a county grows.

Not by hoarding taxpayer money while problems get worse. Not by accepting that young people will leave. Not by pretending that opportunity belongs in Westchester, Dutchess, or somewhere else.

We grow by investing in our people.

My opponent has called this kind of investment in our future “unnecessary.”

I could not disagree more.

Investing in our young people is necessary. Investing in workforce development is necessary. Investing in adults who want a better career is necessary. Investing in seniors who want to keep learning and contributing is necessary. Investing in the future of Putnam County is necessary.

I am the only candidate in this race with previous executive experience. That matters because big ideas do not become reality on their own. They require planning, management, partnerships, budgeting, accountability, and the ability to lead people toward a shared goal.

Vision matters. Execution matters too.

Putnam County deserves both.

A community college and trade school would be one of the most important investments we could make in the next generation of Putnam residents. It would keep more young people here, strengthen our workforce, support our local economy, and give families a reason to believe that the future can be built right here at home.

This is how we make Putnam Possible.

Not just today, but for generations to come.