MONTICELLO, NY — The Sullivan County Legislature discussed a pair of disparate issues at its August 17 executive committee meetings. It heard discussion on the workload for the county attorney’s office and its handling of juvenile delinquency cases, and it contemplated how best to support the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce in its mission of promoting businesses in the county. 

Additional attorneys

The legislature voted to approve an additional attorney position in the office of the county attorney. 

The job—an attorney for matters related to the Department of Family Services (DFS)—had been abolished by a previous administration and was being reinstated, said chair of the legislature Rob Doherty. “The work that DFS has to do now with Raise the Age and other things that the state has put on them is significantly higher than when the position was deleted four or five years ago.” 

The Raise the Age legislation changed the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18. According to nycourts.gov, many cases involving 16- or 17-year-olds now pass in whole or in part through family court. 

Deputy county attorney Tom Cawley told the legislature that the amount of work DFS had to handle at present surpassed anything he had previously seen. “Because of the opiate crisis and other social issues, the level of pressure on our office is insane.”

Legislator Ira Steingart suggested that the DFS attorneys should be housed under DFS, rather than being housed under the county attorney’s office. “I certainly believe that there is a need. I’m concerned if we vote for it today though that there is no chance that it’s going to wind up getting the attorneys going back to DFS.”

“Juvenile delinquents are prosecuted by the county attorney under law,” said county attorney Mike McGuire. He expressed concern that placing the new attorney with DFS would tie the hands of the county attorney’s office in dealing with its cases, and said that the model of housing legal services under a county attorney’s office was common across the state. “It becomes very difficult when a non-attorney is directing an attorney to do things that perhaps they can’t do,” said McGuire, speaking to the potential issues of housing legal services under the DFS. 

Bagelfest and beyond

The 2023 edition of Bagelfest, a festival put on by the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce (SCCC), brought as many as 20,000 people to the streets of Monticello. 

In the wake of Bagelfest’s success, the legislature discussed a resolution providing the chamber of commerce with $50,000 in funding. 

The resolution authorizes a contract between the SCCC and Sullivan County, funding the SCCC with $50,000 to promote tourism in Sullivan County. The money for the contract comes from the county’s room tax fund, a pool of money collected from hotels, Airbnbs and other lodgings to be used for tourism promotion. 

“This is more than just the bagel festival,” said Doherty. “The chamber does work all year long, promoting businesses in this county. They do a very good job.”

Several legislators questioned the propriety of using county money to fund Bagelfest. It served as a fundraiser for the SCCC, said legislator Joe Perrello, and “we can’t expect taxpayers to give money for the Bagelfest. Then you have the Little World’s Fair, you’ve got Fallsburg Night Out, you’ve got [the] Narrowsburg Fourth of July party and festival—there’s too many” for taxpayers to fund them all. 

The contract wouldn’t be for the Bagel Festival, but to support all of the SCCC’s events, responded legislator Nadia Rajsz.

Only a small part of the SCCC’s funding went toward Bagelfest, said SCCC chairwoman Dawn Ciorciari. 

“The bottom line is that we come every year and we have to basically beg for support,” added Ciorciari. “We’re one of three of the economic development organizations in this county, and so we deserve to have a regular contract like everybody else, and have money guaranteed every year to support the over 600 businesses that are members of the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce.”

Perrello moved to lay the resolution over to a following meeting; the motion survived a vote to overturn it, and the resolution did not go through.