MONTICELLO, NY — Several local veterans’ organizations were represented at the meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature on December 17, when the lawmakers voted on a number of resolutions. One getting a lot of attention would have authorized a raise for John Crotty, the director of the Sullivan County Veterans Service Agency.

John Lacy, the Sullivan County commander of the Foreign Legion, noted that when Crotty took over the office in 2010 he started at a salary of $50,000 and was now at $52,000; Crotty’s predecessor earned $64,000. Lacy and other veterans praised the work Crotty does helping veterans and obtaining services for them.

One veteran, who served in Vietnam, and who now suffers from an illness caused by exposure to Agent Orange, said if it weren’t for help from Crotty’s office, he would likely not be getting the benefits he deserves.

Legislators Gene Benson and Kathy LaBuda were in favor of granting the raise and addressing an imbalance before they leave office at the end of the year.

On the other side of the issue, Legislator Kitty Vetter said that Crotty is a hard-working man and the county is lucky to have him. But she said the county has authorized a salary study intended to address salary discrepancies, and a raise should not be handed out before the study is completed. She also said that the outgoing board should not tie the hands of the incoming board on issues like this.

County Chair Scott Samuelson also noted that there were many requests for salary increases at the end of this year, and lawmakers should stick to their decision to allow the new board to deal with all of them.

The resolution was defeated 7-2

Unexpected resolutions

A couple of late-filed or unexpected resolutions came up. Vetter introduced one that called for “suspending” the Board of Ethics until the members of the board receive formal training for the positions, which is available in Albany.

Cindy Gieger noted that she had been the subject of ethics complaints filed by county employees, which were dropped, and of later complaints filed by fellow legislator Kathy LaBuda and one filed by the board itself. She said the board ignored the rules on timing, and took six months to deal with her issue, when it should have been done in 60 days. She said all of the charges had been dropped.

LaBuda said that was not the case, rather there was insufficient information to move forward.

In any case, members of the legal staff said that the board was created with the adoption of a local law, which can only be changed by another local law, and at this late date there was not enough time to go through that process. It was also noted that the ethics board “polices itself.”

Legislator Jonathan Rouis said to Gieger, “That’s the way you wanted it.”

Gieger responded “Yes, I did and I have lived with it… it’s a bad law.”

The resolution was amended to recommend that the incoming board take a look at the law and determine if it should be changed.

Open subcommittees

Another last-minute resolution was one requiring that all subcommittees be open to the public. In discussing this, Samuelson talked about late-files in general, which can only be brought forward in December. He said, “This is the first time we’re seeing this resolution, and there may be valid points, but it should have been discussed in committee.”

To which Legislator Cora Edwards responded, “Each time we’ve brought resolutions like this, they’ve been blocked, so this is kind of our only opening.”

County Attorney Sam Yasgur said that state law already requires that subcommittees be open to the public and subject to open meetings laws. But some advisory committees are not, and the legislature could determine whether those committees are subject to open meetings laws when the committee is formed.

The motion was not passed.