In a speech that was heavy on boosterism and light on initiatives, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks gave her sixth State of the County address tonight at the University of Rochester.

Brooks spent the first 20 minutes praising longtime county businesses and institutions, including the University of Rochester and Seabreeze. She also announced a "Warriors to Work" program designed to help returning vets build careers.

"The rate of unemployment for our returning veterans is twice the average than for nonveterans of the same age," she said. "That's unacceptable."

A new feature on the county's website, www.monroecounty.gov, will help connect employers and job applicants, and civil service exam applications are now available online, too.

The county will consolidate foster-care services and will use $66 million in federal stimulus funds to "offset the impact of the Medicaid program over the next two years," Brooks said.

Brooks also talked up the environmental initiatives taking place at the airport, including the installation of two-dozen wind turbines.

But what everyone was waiting to hear was what the county executive would say about the troubled Renaissance Square project. The bus station-theater-MCC campus planned for Main and Clinton hogged headlines this week when Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy called for a scaled-down version of the plan.

Duffy's absence from the State of the County and the tense relationship developing between the mayor and the county executive, loomed over the event. Before the speech started, the question of whether Duffy would show was on quite a few lips.

Brooks didn't mention Duffy by name, but made many thinly-veiled references to the mayor and the mayor's recent statements.

"We all care about Rochester and Monroe County," she said. (Media have quoted Duffy as saying that he's the only one involved in the project who truly cares about the city.)

Brooks said that she stands "firm in support" of the project. She said it will bring money, people, and jobs to the Center City.

"It's not about me and it's not a competition between elected leaders," she said, and urged everyone involved to put the future of the community "above the politics of the past."

Other highlights from the speech:

• The county is identifying and investigating questionable Medicaid activity, including using software to cross-check historically affluent ZIP codes with welfare recipients.

"Those who steal from our taxpayers will be held fully accountable,"  Brooks said.

• Federal and state mandates dictate 80 percent of the county's spending. That needs to be addressed, she said, and she offered to work with Governor David Paterson, who has pledged to take a look at the issue statewide.
• A few hours before the speech, Brooks spoke with Vice President Joe Biden, who updated her on the stimulus effort and the guidelines for federal Medicaid funding approved under that package.
• MCC President Anne Kress arrived alongside the college's interim president, Larry Tyree. Later on, Brooks welcomed Kress and thanked Tyree.