MONTICELLO — When Sherrita Alexander, the former Administrator of the Care Center at Sunset Lake, resigned on August 11 the nursing home has been without an administrator since then.

Stephanie Brown, Commissioner of the Division of Health and Family Services, has taken on the role of Acting Administrator, and on Thursday the Sullivan County Legislature approved a stipend for Brown for taking on the additional duties and responsibilities.

The original resolution stated the stipend as $1,250 per month. However, the legislators went into executive session to discuss the resolution.

When they came out of executive session, the amount had been lowered to $850 per month for a term until December 31, 2020 and retroactively paid to September 1.

There was no public discussion on the resolution or why the amount was lowered. Chairman Rob Doherty told the Democrat he has no comment, as it is a personnel matter.

Legislator Luis Alvarez cast the only dissenting vote. He told the Democrat that the reason is because other employees at the Care Center are also taking on additional duties and they should be compensated as well.

The Care Center is required by New York State law to assign the duties of a full-time administrator to an individual acceptable to the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.