Sullivan meetings go live

County joins 21st Century

FRITZ MAYER
Posted 11/22/16

MONTICELLO, NY — The monthly meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature held at the government center on November 17, was the first county meeting to be live-streamed on the Internet, and is …

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Sullivan meetings go live

County joins 21st Century

Posted

MONTICELLO, NY — The monthly meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature held at the government center on November 17, was the first county meeting to be live-streamed on the Internet, and is available to view on the county website, www.co.sullivan.ny.us. The archived meeting can be viewed by clicking on the legislature link, and then the Watch Legislative Meetings Online link and following the prompts.

This development prompted a special comment from Legislator Scott Samuelson who said, “I would just like to comment at this time, for those who may be tuning in for the first time as we do our first live stream. This may look like we’re going through these things [resolutions] very quickly and there’s not a  lot of discussion here, but for those of you who don’t know, we spend the first… two weeks of each month in committee looking at all of these resolutions and discussing them at length. So although it looks like we’re not paying a lot of attention to them, we have spent a lot of time with all of these resolutions, and that’s for the new folks at home.”

Among the resolutions passed at this meeting was one to join the Energize NY program, which is described as a state agency with the mission “to provide energy efficiency and renewable energy benefits to New York property owners.”

The program will allow the agency to fund projects that increase renewable energy in the county and other forms of energy efficiency.

The program has been opposed by county treasurer Nancy Buck because the collection of repayments from property owners will be done through the county’s tax collection process.

Eight of the nine county legislators voted in favor of adopting the program, with Mark McCarthy voting “no.”  He said, “The reason for my no vote is I’m a conservative, and this is more government, and I’m a less government guy. I have no problem with solar, no problem with solar programs. I just philosophically am not for bigger government and this is just another layer.”

Legislator Catherine Owens explained her vote saying, “Although I have reservations, I have been assured that the legislature will have very tight controls, so ‘yes.’”

That vote and the many others taken by the legislature can be viewed at the archived recording of the meeting.

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