SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Chairing her first committee, Sullivan County Legislator Terry Blosser-Bernardo (R-9) instituted a new code of conduct for running legislative sessions. 

Each legislator must be recognized by the chair before speaking, ask questions of speakers through the chair, and refer to fellow legislators and speakers by their full titles and names. Public comment will be limited to three minutes. 

If the new meeting rules stick, it will represent a departure from the legislators’ recent conduct. During the last full legislative meeting, members repeatedly raised their voices and talked over one another.

Blosser-Bernardo said the new practices might feel odd at first but that they will help maintain decorum, allowing for a smoother operation. 

During public comment sessions over the past three months, multiple people have requested that guest speakers and officials presenting reports be clearly identified.

Members of the Senior Legislative Action Committee (SLAC), a group of residents who have for years attended most legislature meetings, said they’d hoped the newly elected legislature would not continue the yelling, name calling, and talking out of turn, as was common in the last legislature. 

Legislator Joseph Perrello (R-7) has been known to interrupt his peers. “I kinda like this,” he said of Blosser-Benardo’s new protocols. But he said he’ll probably continue to talk out of turn. “I can’t help it,” he said.

Blosser-Benarardo said she used as models protocols from Anoka County, MN, and videos by Robert’s Rules expert Susan Leahy.