Schoharie County declares state of emergency
May 22—Schoharie County joined other counties in the state and declared a state of emergency, concerned about a possible influx of immigrants shipped north from southern states.
William Federice, chairman of the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors, declared the state of emergency in the county effective at noon Friday, May 19, however, the announcement wasn't made until Sunday, May 21.
The declaration said, "This State of Emergency has been declared due to:
"The County of Schoharie is experience a housing crisis due to the limited number of temporary and permanent housing units, furthermore Schoharie County is not capable of receiving and sustaining any number of migrants and/or asylum seekers.
"This situation threatens public safety."
The notification said the state of emergency "will remain in effect until it is rescinded by a subsequent order."
The order is in response to Gov. Kathy Hochul declaring a disaster emergency in the state prior to the federal Title 42 immigration policy that expired May 11. By declaring the emergency, the county is eligible to access potential federal and state funding necessary for support of any asylum seekers who may arrive in the county, former Schoharie County Administrator and current Otsego County Administrator Steve Wilson said.
Federice also signed an emergency order that restricts other municipalities from signing contracts with businesses, individuals and entities doing business with the county to transport or house migrants or asylum seekers to locations in the county unless prior permission is given.
The emergency order also restricts hotels, motels, owners of multiple dwellings and shelters in Schoharie County from signing a contract with any municipality other than Schoharie County for housing migrants or asylum seekers unless they seek a license from the county to do so.
Licenses will be granted by the Schoharie County health department director, the order said.
According to the order, conditions of the license are:
—Migrants or asylum seekers must be returned to the foreign municipality within 15 days.
—The foreign municipality must demonstrate it has sufficient funds to sustain the needs of the migrants of asylum seekers during their stay in Schoharie County.
—The foreign municipality must agree to assume any costs by any municipality in Schoharie County for the care, welfare, law enforcement interactions or other expenses related to the municipal interaction with the migrants/asylum seekers.
—The applicant and foreign municipality must each pay a $2,000 performance bond for the conditions set by the license per migrant or asylum seeker.
The order said the license renewal will be at the sole discretion of the health director.
Businesses and foreign municipalities that don't adhere to the rules of the order will receive appearance tickets and face fines of $2,000 per migrant/asylum seeker, the order said.
