KINGSTON - An Ulster County grand jury will decide whether criminal charges should be lodged against the former head of the New York State Bridge Authority for alleged misuse of the agency's funds, District Attorney Donald Williams said.

Williams said he had hoped federal or state authorities would lead the investigation into the alleged misdeeds of Jack Gaffney, the authority's former executive director, but that apparently won't happen, leaving his office to pursue the matter.

The district attorney said his office will present evidence and testimony gathered by the state inspector general and his own investigation to a grand jury to be impaneled in April.

He said the grand jury will be examining both the operation of the Bridge Authority in general and specific allegations of misconduct by Gaffney. Though the agency has jurisdiction over five bridges in the Mid-Hudson region, its headquarters are in Highland in southern Ulster County.

Gaffney was appointed to head the authority in 1997 by Gov. George Pataki, a Republican. Gaffney, the father-in-law of Pataki confidant Kieran Mahoney, resigned his $137,700-a-year post last May, three months before the release of a report by state Inspector General Jill Konviser-Levine alleging that during his tenure, Gaffney abused public funds by taking numerous personal trips that he charged to the authority.

The inspector general also found that authority's board of commissioners had changed several policies concerning approval of such expenses, creating an atmosphere that allowed abuses to occur.

Gaffney could not be reached for comment Monday.

Williams had initially sought to have the state or federal government assume jurisdiction over the case, but neither Attorney General Eliot Spitzer nor Comptroller Alan Hevesi, both Democrats, were willing to intervene. The U.S. Department of Justice also declined to assume jurisdiction, leaving it to Williams, a Republican, to act on the inspector general's allegations.

"I've said from the very outset and I continue to believe the nature of this case calls for state action," said Williams. But, he said, after "frank discussions ... each has declined any individual separate action. Consequently this office is left to proceed."

Williams said he was given very little explanation for the decisions, other than "they felt we were competent to proceed."

"This is a very complicated case and this office now faces the prospect of sending investigators to Texas, Florida, and other jurisdictions, and, if the grand jury decides to hear from those witnesses, bringing those people back," he said.

Williams said he will lead the grand jury in a thorough investigation of the allegations, bearing in mind the potential costs to the county of such a complex case.

"I have a responsibility to prosecute cases in a just and efficient fashion," he said. "We are going to do it as fully yet efficiently as possible."

Williams said he has no idea how much the investigation might cost county taxpayers, but said he may ask the state to bear some of the financial burden associated with the case.

The grand jury, which will likely begin hearing testimony at the end of April, will have the ability to charge Gaffney criminally for his alleged conduct as well as issue a report recommending legislative and or administrative changes to ensure abuses similar to those alleged against Gaffney don't occur in the future.