Putnam County Executive Candidates Debate
In their final debate before Election Day, the two candidates for Putnam County executive clashed over who had the necessary experience to lead the county.
Republican MaryEllen Odell, 50, and Democrat Alan Schneider, 62, faced off for the final time during a debate sponsored by the Concerned Residents of Carmel and Mahopac (http://carmelresident.org/crcm/CRCM_newsletter_020228.htm) at the Mahopac Public Library on Oct. 17.
Odell, a longtime Carmel resident who served as a county legislator for five years, is currently an aide for state Sen. Greg Ball. Schneider is a Mahopac accountant and business owner who lives in Kent.
In his opening statement, Schneider said with his business background he had the appropriate experience for the county executive post. “This is not a place for job training,” he said.
But Odell said she had years of knowledge related to county finances. “I have five years of hands on budgeting experience with county government,” Odell said later in the debate.
Carmel resident Ann Fanizzi asked for the county executive candidates’ visions for Putnam. Schneider said one of his priorities was to bring well-paying jobs to the county. “I believe Putnam County can do a lot better than box stores,” he said. “I want this county to be exactly what it was when I grew up here,” Odell said.
Mahopac resident Elaine Jacobs asked the county executive candidates how they would seek to promote Putnam County. Schneider said one of the ways to encourage tourism would be to publicize the fall foliage. “I think this is one of the most gorgeous autumn (areas) in the State of New York,” Schneider said, adding that ore should be spent on efforts to seek tourism by adding staff in the tourism bureau.
“We know what our value is,” Odell said. The county needed to promote itself through a wide variety of media, with Web sites and newspapers as just two examples, she said. “I will do much better” to promote the county, she said.
