Liz Miller's New Incarnation
Elizabeth Miller stays in touch with west Orange County in several ways for State Senator James Skoufis.
Elizabeth Miller took on a new role in July after years when she was a Port Jervis Common Council member, then a mayoral candidate, alongside being project director for September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. As daughter of a firefighter killed in the conflagration, she added her voice to negotiations for a plea deal for accused perpetrators after 20 years at a judicial standstill. Because the accused had been tortured, their previous statements could not be used in trial. The plea deal includes life sentences without parole and tequirements that the accused answer questions from survivors.
These days Miller is listening to the voices of western Orange County residents to convey their concerns to New York State Senator James Skoufis, for whom she now works as regional affairs coordinator, a post she emphasizes is governmental, not campaign oriented.
“Western Orange County municipalities have many similarities,” Miller said. “They have smaller budgets, country roads with fast driving, like Port Jervis, Deerpark and Mount Hope. Warwick has farm land. Part of my role is to be available to west Orange County communities, to meet with community leaders, go to events and stay on top of what goes on.”
The day before, she and Skoufis attended Port Jervis Harvest Festival. She goes to ribbon cuttings. She tours Black Dirt farms. She checks with Veterans of Foreign Wars groups about any issues they might have with the county. She checks with elected officials monthly.
“Having a presence is important, being available to constituents in the county,” Miller said.
Addressing the issues people discuss with her is not her role but rather guiding them to Skoufis staff who can help.
“My focus is really being present for those who need to get in touch with our office in western Orange County, and I act as a liaison, so I bring whatever I can to the right department in our office to better assist residents of our territories in Orange County.”
For instance, she said, “Mount Hope was having trouble with power outages, so I directed them to constituent services.”
The municipalities she covers include Minisink, Greenville, Otisville, Slate Hill and Wawayanda, as well as Mount Hope, Deerpark, Port Jervis and Warwick and its villages.
“James’s focus is on all of Orange County,” Miller said. “I’m focused on west Orange County, reaching out to stakeholders—police departments, fire departments, volunteers, seniors, chambers of commerce, businesses coming into town.”
Miller pointed out that she lives in the area, that it’s familiar to her. People come to her with electric bill problems and wanting to know what resources Skoufis’s office has. For some issues, she directs people to Skoufis’s Office of Constituent Services and she conveys to Skoufis what comes up.
He aims to bring tax money back to the area, she said, including “millions of dollars for infrastructure upgrades, public safety initiatives, and for nonprofits with strong ties to their communities to improve quality of life for residents.”
Among examples Miller mentioned were $100,000 for Night Out events, divided among municipalities, and a grant to bring drug and alcohol information to high schools. For Port Jervis came SNUG, an evidence-based violence prevention program; upgrades to West End Beach and Orange Square Park, and fire truck funding. For Warwick came $1,000,000 for Mountain Lake Park improvements and a grant for a Warwick Area Farmworkers summer youth program.
Speaking of farms, she said, “We recently did a farm tour throughout parts of Orange County to learn what local farms are doing and to listen to any feedback they had. We did this in coordination with the Orange County Farm Bureau.
She also attends local stakeholder meetings, as with the Orange County Farm Bureau and Orange County Soil and Water, to develop connections between those groups and the Skoufis office. She “tables” at events, like AppleFest in Warwick and National Night Outs.
“Our table is a government table, not for campaigning,” Miller said, “ and we often have informational pamphlets and other resources that can give Orange County residents information— like how to connect with our office if you are having difficulty with any state agencies or departments.”
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