MONTICELLO — The new Sullivan County Legislature is wasting no time in passing resolutions related to pertinent issues they presented on the campaign trail. But some of those decisions have been split, with the four new members and Legislator Alan Sorensen (all Republicans) voting the same way.

The two Democrats, Ira Steingart and Nadia Rajsz, are clearly in the minority and showing their frustrations.

The full board meeting of the legislature on Thursday at the Government Center exhibited some contentious voting, with legislators at times at odds with each other. Here is a breakdown of how some of those decisions went.

A New Rule

A resolution passed allowing the Chairman of the legislature to appoint himself/herself to serve as a member or chair of a standing committee in an official capacity and not in an “ex-officio” capacity.

Opposing the change in the rule, Rajsz stated, “This goes against past practice. By having the chair of the legislature be a member and a chair of any and all committees that he desires prevents one of the other legislators from being a voting member of those committees.”

Steingart made a motion to table the resolution, but it failed with only four votes (Rajsz, Luis Alvarez and Joe Perrello).

The resolution was then voted on and passed 5-4.

“This could change the future of the county—how things are done in the legislature,” Perrello said. “Whatever happens today happens today, but you're not thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow, and that's how everybody has to look at it. Our kids have to deal with this stuff.”

Sullivan County Partnership

A resolution to authorize a contract with the Partnership for Economic Development in the amount of $125,000 was tabled with a vote of 5-3 (Steingart, Rajsz and Perrello opposed; Alvarez was absent).

Since it was tabled there was no discussion. However, Chairman Rob Doherty later sent out a statement.

“Today's decision by the Legislature to table the distribution of $125,000 for 2020 to the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development should not be taken as an indication there's something wrong. It's simply about ensuring taxpayers' money is spent in a wise and accountable fashion. We will soon engage in a dialogue with the Partnership's leadership and board to determine how County funds were spent in 2019 and how the Partnership envisions they'll be spent in 2020. My plan is to ultimately have a similar dialogue with all organizations which receive County funding.”

In response to the legislature's decision to table the resolution, Partnership for Economic Development President and CEO Marc Baez said, “While I was surprised by the vote, I understand some of the new legislators need to be educated on what we do and the value we bring to the county. We look forward to providing information that shows the value of their investment.”

Baez said for every dollar the county invests there is a $11.20 return in real property tax collections as a result of Partnership projects.

The contract between the county and the Partnership is reviewed annually and Baez said they have asked for the same amount ($125,000) for the past three years.

Visitors Center

A resolution was passed 6-2 to rescind the resolution that authorized the purchase of property and construction of a visitors center. Legislators Steingart and Rajsz were opposed, and Legislator Luis Alvarez was absent.

Steingart held on to his convictions that the proposed plan for the Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association (SCVA) to build a visitors center on land in Rock Hill was not properly presented.

He said it wasn't going to cost $4.5 million (the number that was originally projected and that drew harsh criticism from residents) and that the assessed value of approximately $80,000 did not match the actual value.

“I know this has not been a popular question, and I've been for it since day one,” Steingart said. “I admit that we did a horrible job how we handled getting the information out. But everything you're reading on social media is not accurate.”

The SCVA ended up backing out of the land purchase, and instead signed a lease for office space in Liberty (see article in the 1/17 issue of the Sullivan County Democrat).

Doherty said that SCVA board member Rick Lander told the legislators about this plan, so the land purchase was a “moot point.”

Steingart fired back, “It's nice how you can turn someone's opinion to be the one that you want. What he [Lander] was trying to say is that they also realized that even if we went along with this it's two years to get the plans drawn, and they needed a place to go.”

Other legislators agreed with Doherty, saying the cost of $400,000 for the land was too high. But Steingart said the idea of a visitors center is “all about economic development.”

“The message that we're sending here is wrong,” he said. “The Partnership is another example. We made great strides in the last eight years on the growth and we're sending messages to developers now you're no longer welcome. We're going to regret this.”