By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO - Legislative minority leader Rodney Gaebel (RC-5) said there will be a meeting of the principals involved in the next month to consider the progress and directions of the Sullivan-Warwarsing Rural Economic Assistance Program (REAP) zone.

Gaebel said one of the issues on his agenda will be a clarification of the executive director's position. Gaebel said he's pleased with the effort incumbent Rick Bishop is putting in, but the county needs to resolve the part-time nature of his position. Bishop is funded as a part-time county, part-time Cornell Cooperative Extension employee, currently based in Ferndale. Gaebel believes Bishop should be based Monticello, more readily at the access of county government.

Sullivan County planning and community development Commissioner Alan Sorensen recalled that Bishop's position was funded through a $150,000 grant that his office won. "Theoretically, he's a part-time employee in my office," Sorensen said.

Despite pressure for a Monticello location, the REAP Board of Directors placed the program offices in Alan Gerry's Cablevision Building after the program was initiated by Congressman Maurice Hinchey and the U.S. Department of Agriculture some two years ago.

Then there is the issue of how grants are channeled.

Former county manager, now Gerry Foundation Executive Director Jonathan Drapkin, recently sought and won Bethel Town Board sponsorship for two REAP grant applications, to fund feasibility studies for a Yasgur's Dairy production plant and the Eagle Institute's proposed interpretive center.

The dairy project, which would include a tourism aspect, has been approved for $28,000 and the Eagle Institute application is still pending. The foundation has no financial interest in either project, spokesman Glenn Pontier said, but either could be located in Bethel to take advantage of new visitor traffic at Gerry's planned performing arts center. To avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, Drapkin abstained from a REAP Board of Directors discussion of the Yasgur grant, Pontier said.

The Yasgur site would border Gerry's property and the Eagle Institute reportedly is considering sites in several areas.

Pontier said Drapkin appeared before the Bethel board because the Eagle Institute remains a long-standing interest of his from his days in county government and to reassure the town board that neither of these proposed projects would in any way be detrimental to Alan Gerry's larger plans.

Sorensen, who had worked separately on both projects, said he had no issue with the validity of either application. But, given the difficulty in obtaining planning money, and their possible interactions with Gerry interests in Bethel, it might have been appropriate for such a "well-endowed foundation" to sponsor the studies instead of competing with underfunded municipalities for it.

Pontier discounted Sorensen's concern, saying the foundation did little more than direct the grant applicants in the right direction. "If we hadn't done that, you or someone else would be asking me why not," he said.

"Jonathan Drapkin," he said, "recruited Alan Sorensen to work for Sullivan County, and is one of his biggest supporters. He's done a great job and no one has a bad word for him." Still, other foundations and other agencies are working on projects that don't involve Sorensen, and that is still good for Sullivan County, he added.