SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — The Sullivan County Legislature voted eight to one during the Thursday, November 5 special meeting of the full legislature to hire outside legal counsel for the county and the county manager. That outside counsel will represent those parties as defendants in the ongoing lawsuit over the closure of the Sullivan County Adult Care Center (ACC), also known as the Care Center at Sunset Lake. 

The resolution comes after Sullivan County and Sullivan County County Manager Joshua Potosek were found in contempt of court for not abiding by an order from Ulster County Supreme Court Justice Kevin R. Bryant to temporarily stop the closure of the ACC. The county is planning to appeal, with chair of the legislature Nadia Rajsz saying it stands by its belief that it is in the right.

“I’m going to say again and again, we did nothing wrong,” Rajsz told the River Reporter. “I stand on everything we’ve done. We did it according to what [the] Department of Health has told us to do. Our manager is not a criminal. He also followed what he was guided to do. And if there is an appeal process that we can go through, we’re going to do it.”

Rajsz also said that she “absolutely” still has faith in the County Attorney’s office, which had previously represented the defendants. She said that the resolution is aimed at bringing in a “fresh set of eyes” to the situation. The county manager’s office did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.

Legislator Catherine Scott, the sole nay vote on the resolution, attempted to amend the resolution so that there would be a $50,000 limit not to exceed, for the cost of seeking outside counsel. The amendment failed to get a second. Scott said that the move to not limit the money and to seek outside counsel is irresponsible.

“This is taxpayer money. What the legislature did today is they issued a blank check for a legal process that could go on literally for years,” Scott said. “I just don’t think that it was responsible or fiscally prudent.”

“The facts are the facts”

During the meeting, Rajsz said that the county would not be in their current situation if a transfer of the ACC’s operating document, called the Certificate of Need (CoN), had gone through undeterred. 

The county had previously attempted to transfer the CoN to consulting group Infinite Care, but members of the public spoke out against the transfer. Infinite Care announced that it would withdraw from the facility in June of this year. When the county announced the ACC’s closure, it listed Infinite Care’s withdrawal as a reason for the closure.

“We would not have been in this position if no one obstructed the CoN for the private agency,” Rajsz said amid boos from the crowd. “You can boo me all you want but we would not be in this position of defending ourselves.”

During the meeting, Scott said that the county should just admit that it was in the wrong. “Our job was to protect the vulnerable people in that facility,” she said. “We had our day in court. And the judge found us guilty. And sometimes—actually, all the time—when you make a mistake, you should admit it.”

Lou Setren, the president of the ACC’s family council, has been a vocal supporter of the center. Setren testified against the county during the contempt hearing on October 29. He feels that while the county can try to appeal and change its legal team, it won’t change the outcome.

“The facts are the facts. The truth is the truth,” Setren said. “By changing counsel in the middle of a litigation process, they’re just continuing to throw good money after bad, rather than just facing the truth. They continue to make mistakes.”