Columbia County's longtime social services commissioner is gone, and nobody is saying exactly why. Bob Gibson resigned from his post atop the county Department of Social Services effective Nov. 2, departing without a successor lined up after leading the agency for nearly a decade.
Board of Supervisors Chair Matt Murell announced Gibson's departure in a news release early that Monday, according to the Times Union. Murell declined to explain the reasoning behind the resignation or answer further questions. Columbia County itself provided no reason for Gibson's exit, the newspaper reported.
Gibson told employees of his decision in an email on Oct. 29, and he said he had planned to return after a couple of weeks to help with the transition, but personal circumstances prevented him from doing so. He said he remained dedicated to the agency's employees and to the county. Two sources familiar with the resignation said the departure began to take shape in mid-October, the Times Union's report notes. Michaele Williams-Riordon will assist with day-to-day operations while the county forms a committee to interview candidates for the next commissioner.
A Shelter Deal Struck Without Board Sign-Off
At the center of the uncertainty is a long-simmering dispute over Healy Homes, a privately funded proposed shelter with 26 rooms just off Fairview Avenue in Greenport that was first proposed nearly two years before Gibson's resignation, per the same account. The project's developer, Danny Messing, has said Healy Homes could only be financed and built with a reliable pipeline of Department of Social Services placements — and that lenders and investors could not underwrite it without guaranteed or priority placement of homeless residents.
Board of Supervisors members were told in an Oct. 15 email about an agreement between Gibson and operators of the Galvan Civic Motel concerning financing for the Greenport shelter. Tori Gansowski, director of finances for Columbia County Social Services, wrote that same day that any agreement with Healy Homes could not guarantee priority placement of homeless individuals. Gibson, however, had told Messing that the Galvan Civic Motel would retain priority placement in perpetuity — a commitment the Health and Human Services Committee never approved, and one made without sign-off from either the committee or the full Board of Supervisors, which must approve all county contracts.
The roots of the dispute trace back to a July 15 meeting that Gibson called with Messing and two Galvan Civic Motel representatives, according to Messing's account. The meeting addressed which homeless individuals would be placed at which facility. John Parsons, Galvan Housing Resources' director of operations, said he confirmed with Gibson that the motel would retain priority placement, while Messing requested clarification and guidance from Health and Human Services Committee members on where Healy Homes would stand.
Committee Approved the Contract in September
The Health and Human Services Committee, which must sign off on Department of Social Services contracts placing homeless individuals in housing, voted to approve the Healy Homes contract on Sept. 15. But committee member Kathy Eldridge said she did not support the shelter because Greenport already has the Galvan Civic Motel along with another proposed homeless housing project in the works.
The Galvan Civic Motel remains the only county facility specifically designed to house homeless individuals, and it has held an agreement for first priority placements. Bard spokeswoman Jennifer Strodl said the motel's agreement with Columbia County Social Services was first struck in 2019 and has been renewed annually. Bard College acquired the motel the previous year after the Galvan Foundation gifted Galvan Housing Resources and its properties to the college. Jacob Meglio, a Bard College director of special projects, is also involved with the property. That priority-placement agreement was set to expire at the end of 2026, raising the stakes on whatever happens next.
Why Healy Homes Matters to Advocates
Supporters have cast Healy Homes as the first genuinely good alternative to the civic motel eligible for first priority placement. The project would include an employment specialist, a daytime doorman and a clinician, and it sits near grocery stores, eateries, job opportunities, a vocational school and a county bus route. The Galvan Civic Motel, by contrast, is located in a rural part of Greenport, far from public transportation and stores — a gap that often forces the Department of Social Services to pay for transporting shelter residents to its offices in Hudson.
St. Catherine's Center for Children would operate services at both Healy Homes and the Galvan Civic Motel, according to the seed reporting. Galvan Housing Resources officials did not return a call seeking comment on the dispute.
Accounts of Healy Homes' size vary. The Times Union's reporting and a Daily Gazette account describe a 26-room or 26-unit facility on Healy Boulevard, while Citizen Portal has described it as a newly constructed 24-unit facility. A separate 2025 Times Union report said the county had earlier rejected a private developer's proposal for a 25-bed emergency shelter in Greenport altogether. Most people without homes in the county are otherwise placed by the Department of Social Services in private motels, which the department's own reporting has described as often dilapidated and lacking services.
Homelessness Climbing Across the Region
The leadership shakeup comes as homelessness has been rising locally. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's annual point-in-time count, a 24-hour snapshot of homelessness, found 140 people experiencing homelessness in Columbia and Greene counties in 2024, climbing to 152 by January 2025. A separate state Comptroller's report cited by the Daily Gazette found the two counties saw a 39% increase in homeless population between 2022 and 2024. Gibson himself had estimated that upward of 90 homeless people in Columbia County were using Social Services resources, the Daily Gazette reported.
Elsewhere in the county, a separate project known as the Wellness Hub — envisioned with a 28-unit emergency shelter and a 35-unit permanent supportive housing building on a five-acre parcel donated by business owner Paul Colarusso near the Columbia County Sheriff's Office — has completed its state-mandated environmental review but has not yet received final approval, with organizers hoping to break ground in 2027, according to the Daily Gazette.
For now, Columbia County faces its housing crunch without the commissioner who spent nearly a decade steering the department, and without clarity on who will fill the role or how the contested Healy Homes agreement will be resolved.
