MONTICELLO - The Division of Planning, Community Development & Real Property reported to the county legislators that they are working on the marketing and development of two vacant sites that have been in the works for quite some time—the Apollo Plaza in Monticello and the Emerald Corporate Park in Rock Hill.

According to Planning, Community Development and Real Property Commissioner Freda Eisenberg, the Emerald Corporate Park has one shovel ready site, and there is a property behind the Apollo that needs development.

As already reported in the Democrat, the Apollo Plaza was recently sold back to the county. Named the Apollo II phase, the county is looking to market and sell the 78-acre parcel.

The county is also looking to market the 24-acre parcel at the Emerald Corporate Center. Eisenberg reported to the legislators on Thursday that the Planning Division met with Keystone Engineering to review and provide comments on a preliminary plan for the 24 acres owned by the Emerald Corporate Center Economic Development Corp.

Eisenberg said the department needs to get an appraisal of that property. “It's 24 acres so it's a large piece to sell,” Eisenberg said. She added that they don't plan on subdividing the parcel, as it is large and has a wooded terrain.

Legislator Alan Sorensen said they need to identify what can be done with the lot, and come up with some concept plans and sketches. “I think one of the stumbling blocks is additional site work that needs to be done,” he said.

Eisenberg agreed. “It [the site] is not cleared, so we can't really tell what's there,” she said. “It's not market ready.” Legislator Joseph Perrello asked how much the study would cost and Eisenberg responded $20,000.

Coroner: 20-25 percent of deaths are drug overdoses

Sullivan County Coroner Albee Bockman gave his monthly report to the legislators during the Public Safety Committee meeting and had unfortunate news. Similar to reports from previous months, the number of fatal overdoses from opioids remains steady.

Bockman said their office had 11 dispatches last month, and two of those were drug overdoses. He said the average is two to four deaths per month, which equates to 20-25 percent of deaths in the county per month. “It just doesn't stop,” he said.

On the same note, Alex Rau from the 911 Center reported that their office is working with Wendy Brown from Public Health on the recently created drug overdose map. Rau said Sullivan is one of the first counties to unroll such a project.

They were invited to participate in a webinar about the OD map. “We will host a webinar to talk about our process and how successful it's going,” Rau said.

Labor market continues to grow

The data has come in for October and the unemployment rate continues to be low. Laura Quigley, Director of the Center for Workforce Development, reported that Sullivan County's unemployment rate was 3.4% for October 2018, down from 4.7% in October 2017. The labor force of 36,600 is an increase of 2,700 from the prior year.

The center also reported some statistics in terms of what kind of jobs contribute to that number. For Sullivan County the biggest jobs increase remains in Leisure and Hospitality with a 70.8% increase (1,700) followed by Professional & Business Services showing an increase of 12.5% (200) and the Financial Activities sector experiencing a 12.5% (100) increase in jobs. Manufacturing continues to show a -6.7% (100) decline in jobs for the same time period.

In addition, Sullivan County ranked first once again among small counties in private sector job growth for October (+9.7%) followed by Schuyler County (+1.9%) and Lewis County at 1.6%.