Job Search To Replace Redzeposki Opens Next Week
Lucy Redzeposki, a human-driven tour-de-force for tourism and economic development in Rockland County, is leaving her post.
The job search to replace Redzeposki begins next week. Her last day is April 26th. She has not revealed if she is taking another position. She has told the county she’s exploring her options.
The beloved bureaucrat has touched all corners of the business community countywide, and her departure is likely to sadden many.
“Lucy Redzeposki is probably one of the greatest finds we had when it came to hiring people who understood leadership and direction,” said County Executive Ed Day. “She has been a gem and played a significant part in our adding $7.5 billion in ratables to this county over the past four years. She has set the bar very high for us to find a replacement and we wish her well in her next endeavor.”
In 2016, County Executive Ed Day hired Redzeposki and assigned her the dual role of stimulating tourism and economic development. Her can-do nature, infectious personality, and an open door, has made her a breath of fresh air in government.
Redzeposki’s influence has been felt broadly – from grants to partnerships, the director has lifted hotels, restaurants, shops, theaters, arts, special events, as well as nonprofits. She has also been influential in turning Rockland into a prime location for shooting films and television series.
In Day’s 2019 State of the County speech, he said the average household in Rockland would have to pay an additional $585 in yearly property taxes to maintain current services if not for tourism generated sales and local taxes.
Among her most high profile achievements have been efforts to bring Chinese tourism to the county. To show Chinese tour agents just what Rockland had to offer, Redzeposki booked a bus and brought 30 Queens-based travel agents to the county.
“Chinese tourism alone has far surpassed our own predicted goals with over 5,000 hotel rooms booked last year,” according to Day. “That’s a 110% increase over 2017 and is coupled with revenue spending estimates between $15 and $60 million.”
The director helped the county build a tourism-related website, www.explorerocklandny.com, which shows off the county’s historic sites, shopping centers, hotels and river towns—all within distance of other tourist sites, including Woodbury Common and West Point.
In 2018, the state issued a report saying that visitors spent three percent more in Rockland in 2017 than they did a year earlier, an estimated increase of nearly $500,000. This led to a 4% increase in tourism-related employment: more than 9000 jobs. Tourism accounts for 7.3 percent of all employment in Rockland.
The Strategic Alliance Memorandum with the US Small Business Administration has paid dividends for our small businesses, said the county executive. It has led to 127 SBA loan guarantees in 2018, a 49% increase over 2017. The dollar values of those loans are over $44 million, also a 49% increase over the $29 million we received in 2017.
Redzeposki could not be reached for comment.