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ALBANY -- As it competes for a slice of $200 million in economic development funding, the Capital Region need not worry about other major projects moving through the pipeline.

"There will be no penalty for success," said Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy, emerging from the first meeting of the Capital Region Economic Development Council. "The Capital Region is second to none."

Duffy said the council will be "aligning" efforts and "leveraging" existing resources. This is one of 10 economic development councils vying for a pot of $200 million in quick economic development funding and $1 billion in overall state resources.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said there will be winners and losers: The best plans will win, and regional need -- the Albany area is in better economic shape than greater Buffalo, for example -- would not be a consideration in the awards.

The council's members met privately Tuesday morning in the SEFCU Arena at the University at Albany, joined by a number of elected legislators who aren't technically on the council. The attendees said they heard a brief presentation on the process and then began, essentially, to brainstorm -- in much the same way a city zoning or comprehensive plan might be developed.

Duffy rode herd over the session, along with vice chairs Michael Castellana, the president of SEFCU, and Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In small groups (with all the elected officials segregated to the same corner) they outlined their visions for the Capital Region as it might exist five years from now.

"It was a spirited discussion," said F. Michael Tucker, president of the Center for Economic Growth, a business group.

According to Jackson, the next step will be to send a questionnaire to "key stakeholders" and review other plans -- by cities, towns or other municipalities -- to find workable ideas. There will also be "a fresh set of input" from various public meetings around the eight-county region, which includes the four-county Capital Region as well as Columbia, Greene, Warren and Washington counties.

"We want this to be as participatory as possible," Castellana said.

This meeting was closed. Duffy explained his decision to keep it private.

"It was closed to allow us to go through all the mechanics of getting this entity up and running. We have a lot of people here; there's a process that we're going through for a five-year strategic plan due in November, competing for in aggregate a total of $1 billion," he said. " ... We wanted to make sure we had a smooth meeting. Future meetings will be open."

He also promised a "whole host" of public sessions in the coming months.

Duffy also suggested the council may finish its work early, and Castellana noted the process "could take a year, could take eight months, could take several semesters" if it was allowed to.

Jackson said the panel would move with all due speed. "If you lay out your structure and ask the right questions, and you have the right people engaged to help you extract information, and if you have leaders who've done it before, you can do it pretty fast," she said.

She said the council is "accelerating" beyond the November due date so there's time to "socialize" the plan with the general plan. It will be completed "within a couple of months."

Duffy said the goal was to produce a "workable plan that will provide for long-term goals, but hopefully some short-term victories as well." It will contain a list of recommended projects, as well as metrics to track success.

Awards will be announced in December, Cuomo has said.

Reach Vielkind at 454-5081 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .