MONTICELLO – On Wednesday, March 25, the 2026 Charter Review Commission held their organizational meeting in the Legislative Hearing Room at the Government Center in Monticello. 

The meeting marked the beginning of the third Charter Review Commission, an appointed group of citizens tasked with researching the current form of government and making recommendations to the legislature about how to run Sullivan County more efficiently. 

In attendance were the following appointed members: Paul Barnett, John Conway, Moreen Lerner, Bill Liblick, Bill Lothrop, George Rose, and Ken Walter. Absent from the meeting were committee members Camille Johnston and Kaylee Roebuck.

Also in attendance was Legislative Chair Nadia Rajsz, who was a member of the last commission until she left early to run for Legislator. Among Rajsz’s chief concerns was the proposal of creating a county executive, a suggestion that the Last Charter Review Commission made to the legislature. 

“It should be put on the [general election] ballot for the voters to decide whether we should move in that direction or stay with what we have,” said Rajsz. 

Currently 19 of the 62 counties in New York State have a county executive, an official who operates like a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company alongside the legislature, which acts like a company’s board of directors. 

Rajsz said that the people should vote on it in the general election in November, which would require that it gets to the Board of Elections by August.

Rajsz continued that Ulster, Rockland, and Orange counties each have a county executive, and as such, they are more visible at the state level. 

Rajsz, using the Governor’s State of the State Address as an example, said that during the speech cameras panned the room to reveal Steve Neuhaus (County Executive of Orange County), Jennifer Metzger (County Executive of Ulster County), and Daniel McCoy (County Executive of Albany County). 

Rajsz rhetorically asked, “Where are we? We have no visibility, we’re not at the table…We have somewhat of a voice but it’s not as loud as that of a county executive, and we need to move this county forward.”

After the commission heard Rajsz’s comments, it adopted Robert’s Rules of Order, appointed Bill Liblick to be temporary chair, and appointed Ken Walter as parliamentarian. 

The commission then decided that regular meetings would be held on the first Wednesday of each month (starting in May) at 4 p.m. in the legislature room at the Government Center. 

When the issue of attendance arose, the commission decided that any member missing three meetings would receive a letter informing them of their continued absence, and a fourth absence would result in that member’s termination from the commission. 

The commission also discussed whether members could vote on a resolution when attending through Zoom conferencing, and if future livestreamed meetings would accept comments from the public, but these issues were not resolved by the end of the meeting.

Temporary chair Liblick, who served on the previous commission, explained that the board’s mission is to “do research on the current charter,” a document reviewed every 10 years by an independent commission of qualified county electors to enhance local government’s capabilities. 

“We make recommendations,” continued Liblick, “to the legislature on the charter and the codes… This is the third charter review commission that’s been installed by Sullivan County; it’s mandatory every 10 years, and basically what we do is interview people.” 

Liblick said that the last commission interviewed Sullivan County government officials, commissioners, and supervisors to take the temperature on county-wide efficiency. He said they also interviewed county executives from other counties and financial professionals to compare their operations with that of Sullivan County. 

“The most important thing that the last charter review commission did was recommend that the Sheriff’s Patrol be included in the charter,” said Liblick. “The other two items that we recommended to the legislature was a county executive, which we issued a report, and also staggered terms, where we felt that every legislator should not be up [for re-election] at the exact same time because it causes some disarray in the government.”