Health and safety in Sullivan County

By LIAM MAYO
Posted 5/2/23

MONTICELLO, NY — The Sullivan County Legislature passed a resolution on April 20 authorizing tools and equipment for active shooter training in Sullivan County schools. The $40,000 program will …

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Health and safety in Sullivan County

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MONTICELLO, NY — The Sullivan County Legislature passed a resolution on April 20 authorizing tools and equipment for active shooter training in Sullivan County schools. The $40,000 program will cover all schools in the county, even those that don’t participate in the sheriff’s school resource officer program. 

The legislature confirmed the appointment of Scott Schultz to the position of commissioner of public safety. That position became vacant in November 2022 with the resignation of Tom Farney, who had himself joined in September 2021 following the resignation of long-time commissioner Rick Sauer. 

The legislature passed a resolution authorizing increases to management salaries in the sheriff’s department. Under the new salary schedule, a corrections lieutenant will make $100,580, a correction captain will make $103,587, a chief deputy-patrol division/internal affairs will make $110,268; a jail administrator will make $106,606 and the undersheriff will make $113,956. 

The sheriff had recommended the increases to “be able to recruit, promote and retain management staff,” according to the resolution. The final resolution included half the raises the sheriff recommended; legislator Alan Sorensen described it as meeting the sheriff’s office halfway.

The legislature was divided over whether to meet a request by the sheriff’s office in another resolution. The sheriff requested permission to retain outside counsel for representation in certain proceedings. 

If the sheriff’s office needs an outside source of legal counsel, it should have it, said legislator Joe Perrello. Some legislators felt that they didn’t receive equal treatment from their counsel, and he floated the idea of legislators also being able to retain outside counsel. He called an executive session to discuss the idea in private. 

During a later meeting, Doherty told the legislature members that, on advice of their counsel, they were not the body for that decision. The legislature took no action on the resolution. 

Changes at the Adult Care Center

The legislature additionally heard comment about the current state of the Sullivan County Adult Care Center (ACC). 

Recent reports have indicated that the ACC’s certificate of need, a document authorizing the provision of medical services, will be transferred from county government to management company Infinite Care pending Department of Health approval. This shift has implications for the employees at the facility, as human resources commissioner Julie Diescher told the legislature. 

The division of human services and the assistant county manager had several meetings up at the ACC, Diescher said. “It was by design to go up and meet with people who were uncomfortable with the transition.”

The division held three meetings and 41 one-on-one appointments talking with individual staff members. Some staff were looking to constructively retire, keeping health insurance without collecting a pension; others voiced wanting to stay at the ACC, out of commitment to the residents under their care; and the county managers’ office remained committed to finding people other employment with the county if they so wished. 

During a later public comment period, ACC family council head Lou Setren said that calls for the process to be open and transparent and requests for information had been met with denials. 

When Setren has asked the county about its consultation with the state comptrollers’ office, a consultation said to determine the status of employees at the facility, he said he’d been told those conversations had been held orally and with counsel, leaving no public records. The application for the certificate of need included both language about sale and about a long-term lease, he said. “Which is it?” (Clarifying statements from Sullivan County’s government have indicated that the county intends to lease the facility, not sell it.)

Setren said that Infinite Care has yet to offer a specific salary and benefit package to those that will be employed by the company. 

sullivan county, legislature, active shooter, training, adult care center,

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