The newly installed Sullivan County Legislature voted to make Scott Samuelson the chairman after the swearing in ceremony at the government center on January 11.

Samuelson, who owns the Bradstan Hotel in White Lake and has lived in Sullivan County for 30 years, made some brief remarks after accepting the honor. In referring to the new legislature, which has six new members who are new to the nine-member body, he said, “I can assure you we bring to the table an intelligent, thoughtful, diversified and extremely motivated group of individuals whose only goal is to do the very best for Sullivan County.”

He continued, “There is much to do to regain the trust of the citizenry of this great community…. There will be a new way of doing business in Sullivan County, one of open communication, transparency, cooperation, trust and, most of all, respect.”

One of the first actions to be considered by the new legislators will be whether to approve an amended county code of ethics that will cover all elected and appointed county officials.

The proposed code of ethics would tighten up the regulations regarding conflicts of interest among lawmakers, as indicated in the following language: “A county official shall not participate in the consideration of, vote on, or administer, a matter in which he or she has any interest.”

The proposed code can be found at co.sullivan.ny.us and click on the ethics policy link in the left-hand column. There will be a public hearing on the matter at the government center on January 19 at 1 p.m.