The County Executive’s office has changed since our last visit. The dart board is gone. It’s hidden by an Islamic prayer rug. One of several mementoes of a six-month deployment to Iraq.
Mr. Neuhaus returned to Orange County in July with a new appreciation for the people who served overseas before there was email and Skype.
He and his wife Rachel have four children — two in school and two in preschool. He wanted to write to the kids, so they would have something to keep for later years. But letter writing was hard. The family was communicating electronically every day. And once they had spoken, there wasn’t much left to say in a letter. “I wouldn’t know what to write to the kids,” Mr. Neuhaus admitted, “because I had just spoken to them.”
Now that he’s back, Mr. Neuhaus (a lieutenant commander in the Navy reserve) expects to be home for a long time. “I should be good for a minimum of five years,” he told us. And while he’s in the states, he has several reminders of his deployment — an ISIS flag, a placemat with the insignias of all the branches in the Special Operations Task Force, and a diploma from the course he completed at the Naval College.
Our Aug. 27 visit occurred two days after the conclusion of the Air Show — an event that the executive clearly enjoys. “This was our biggest air show in history,” he said proudly. “We had 25,000 the first day and 26,000 the second Every year the show has been different. Next year the Thunderbirds will head the lineup.”
After returning from Iraq, Mr. Neuhaus went right to work — pausing long enough to surprise his children in school. He has no vacations scheduled for the next six months, but he’s managed to take a few day trips. And it’s obvious that he enjoys the Hudson Valley. “Tourism is growing all over the county,” he told us. “And Legoland will be open in less than a year.”
He reported that sales taxes are strong. And he apologized for all the paperwork spread over his conference table. He was preparing for a dinner meeting with the town supervisors to work on next year’s budget.
Despite his enthusiasm for the relics from the desert, Mr. Neuhaus seems glad to be back. He praised the team that helped him run the county while he was overseas. “They didn’t miss a beat while I was gone,” he said. “We still have some challenges. But at the end of the day, Orange County is strong.”
