Capital District Regional Planning Commission

Jayne Regan Harris was elected the new Chairperson of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission on April 27th during the Commission's regular meeting held in Colonie. Mrs. Harris, a resident of Brunswick, was appointed by the Rensselaer County Legislature to the CDRPC Board in 1993.

Also elected as officers were First Vice Chairperson, Betty Barnette of Albany County; Second Vice Chairperson, J. Christopher Callaghan of Saratoga County; and Treasurer, Ralph Comanzo of Schenectady County. All officers serve one-year terms.

"I am very pleased and honored to serve on this Commission and to be associated with so many distinguished colleagues. I would like to dedicate my term as Chairman to my late husband, Arnie, and to my predecessor, Peter Polsinelli, who was unable to complete his term due to illness," she told the Board when she assumed the post. Mr. Arnold F. Harris, the former Troy City Planning Commissioner, was a board member and the Treasurer of CDRPC in 1990 when he passed away unexpectedly.

A retired social worker by profession, Mrs. Harris is active in many community service organizations. She currently serves as the Chair for the Friends of Hospice of Rensselaer County, a member of the Foundation of Community Hospice, the President of the Rensselaer County Board of Health, and the Treasurer of the Capital District Youth Center, Inc.

Established jointly by the four counties in 1967, CDRPC has promoted inter-municipal cooperation and has carried out projects dealing with regional land use and transportation planning, environmental conservation, economic development, and juvenile delinquency prevention.

CDRPC serves as a regional data center and provides demographic projections and economic information for municipalities, counties, and the Region.

The Commission was instrumental in the establishment of the 24-bed Capital District Juvenile Detention Facility, the first such regional cooperative project in New York State. The Facility provides short-term housing and educational programs for youths who have been ordered detained by family courts pending adjudication.

The agency is also the Grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone #121, a federal government program for economic development that provides benefits to qualified importers.

Return to CDRPC Home Page