[0:00] Good evening and welcome to the September 1st meeting of the Putnam

[0:02] County Legislature. I'd ask everybody to please stand for the pledge.

[0:06] Legislator Adnezio, would you lead us, please?

[0:09] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the

[0:14] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:19] justice for all. >> I'd ask you all to remain standing.

[0:22] Legislator Russo, would you lead us in our legislative prayer?

[0:25] » Sure. We gather today here together in town

[0:30] I'm doing good work. We seek to represent fairly and well those who have

[0:35] given us this task. May our efforts be blessed with insight, guided by

[0:41] understanding and wisdom. We seek to serve with respect for all.

[0:46] May our personal faith give us strength to act honestly and

[0:51] well in all matters before us. Amen. >> Amen. Thank you.

[0:55] I'd ask Clerk to call the roll, please. >> District 1, Legislator Montgomery.

[1:00] » Here. >> District 2, Legislator Gouldman.

[1:03] » Present. >> District 3, Legislator Adnezio.

[1:06] » Present. >> District 4, Legislator Russo.

[1:09] » Present. >> District 5, Legislator DiAngelo.

[1:12] » Present. >> District 6, Legislator Regan.

[1:15] » Present. >> District 8, Legislator Sage.

[1:18] » Present. >> District 9, Legislator Crowley.

[1:20] » Present. >> District 7, Chairman Birmingham.

[1:23] » Here. Our next item of business is proclamations. I would call on

[1:27] Legislator Montgomery to recognize Suicide Prevention

[1:30] Awareness Month, and I'd ask Legislator Montgomery to invite

[1:34] anybody up who might be here to join us in this proclamation.

[1:37] » Thank you, Chairman. [clears throat] Thank you. I think we have today here

[1:42] Marla Baylor from the co-chair of the Putnam County Suicide Task Force, Megan

[1:48] Costello, co-chair of the Putnam County Suicide Prevention Task Force,

[1:53] and Maria Aidone, the Executive Director of the American Foundation for Suicide

[1:59] Prevention Hudson Valley Westchester chapter. Welcome. Thanks for coming out

[2:05] on this rainy night for this important topic.

[2:10] We have a a beautiful proclamation here that our legislative

[2:15] clerks wonderfully put together. I'll paraphrase a little bit.

[2:19] Suicide is a significant public health issue that affects individuals and

[2:23] families, co-workers, schools, communities across the nation with

[2:28] lasting emotional, social, and economic impacts.

[2:31] Suicide is preventable and through education, awareness, and early

[2:35] intervention, and access to compassionate support, lives can be

[2:39] saved and hope can be restored. Whereas every member of our community has a role

[2:45] in promoting mental wellness, reducing stigma, encouraging help-seeking

[2:50] behaviors, and supporting those who may be struggling with thoughts of suicide

[2:55] or experiencing a mental health crisis. Whereas Putnam County is committed to

[2:59] strengthening suicide prevention and Putnam County during Suicide Prevention

[3:04] Awareness Month, we encourage all residents to learn the warning signs of

[3:08] suicide, engage in open and caring conversations about mental health,

[3:13] support those who may be struggling, and become familiar with available in local

[3:17] resources, including 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Now, therefore, be it

[3:23] resolved that the County of Putnam ex- the Putnam County executive and the

[3:27] Putnam County legislature do hereby proclaim September 2026

[3:31] as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in Putnam County, and we call upon all

[3:36] residents, businesses, schools, health care providers, community organizations,

[3:41] local agencies to participate in Suicide Awareness Prevention Month,

[3:46] and do activities and work together to promote hope, encourage connection,

[3:51] reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness, and support efforts to prevent

[3:56] suicide. Um suicide uh is I just want to

[4:01] highlight why this work is so important and and why it matters here in Putnam

[4:05] County um and to present this heartfelt proclamation to you all

[4:10] » Thank you. >> cuz you do the work and the really hard

[4:12] work and um the amazing work that you have

[4:18] uh stepped up this year alone and what I've

[4:20] seen. So, this issue has touched uh my own life in in way too many ways that

[4:27] I want to talk about um and it has affected far too many

[4:31] families and I believe we have some here today and I'm sorry for your loss. Um

[4:37] I'm particularly proud that Putnam is moving beyond awareness and toward real

[4:42] prevention. Our [clears throat] Department of Social Services and Mental

[4:45] Health through the Suicide Prevention Task Force and the LOSS team is working

[4:50] collaboratively with our health department, uh the Veteran Service

[4:55] Agency, the Youth Bureau, the schools, law enforcement, and the coroner's

[4:58] office, and community partners. The LOSS team now provides immediate outreach to

[5:04] families after suicide. And Putnam was just selected for a new state funding to

[5:09] expand our rural suicide prevention work. This

[5:13] matters profoundly, especially for our veterans, our law enforcement officers,

[5:20] and our first responders. Not only because of the rates of suicide are much

[5:24] higher for those dedicated service members, but also it is they who

[5:29] experience these tragedies from perspectives most of us never see and

[5:34] I've witnessed firsthand um the response that they and the care that they give to

[5:40] our Putnam residents. I've often felt hopeless not knowing what more can I do,

[5:46] but there is so much more we can do. Um, I was really encouraged this week, just

[5:50] the other day, to be sitting on a call about the Bear Mountain Bridge

[5:54] Authority, and they're doing this $93 million

[5:58] renovation restoration to the bridge. Um,

[6:01] but they'll incorporate climate

[6:05] climate deterrent fencing as part of their rehabilitation work. And the

[6:09] workers even will get um

[6:14] suicide prevention workshops. So, the guys that are actually just doing the

[6:19] construction work are obligated to take these prevention programs. So,

[6:24] prevention is becoming part of how we plan and build, and that's what I hope

[6:29] we recognize this month is that suicide prevention isn't one department's

[6:34] responsibility. It really just takes all of us, and thank you for your hard work

[6:39] and being on the front line. >> Would you like to say anything?

[6:43] » You said a lot. >> Yeah.

[6:45] » Yeah. >> Thank you very much.

[6:47] » You touched on a lot of really important things, you know, that as part of the

[6:51] prevention and post-vention work that we do here in the community.

[6:54] Um, I guess we're happy just to have the awareness about suicide prevention

[6:58] month, and um when we talk about suicide, we elevate

[7:02] the conversation, it just raises awareness, and to your point, everyone

[7:06] has a role to play in making our community suicide safer.

[7:09] Um, I would just challenge everyone in the community, if you haven't already

[7:12] taken any type of a what they would call gatekeeper training for suicide

[7:15] prevention, something like safe talk or talk saves lives or um

[7:20] uh question, persuade, and refer, which which also be QPR. Um, please do that

[7:25] because it will help you recognize someone who may be at risk for suicide

[7:28] and help you know how to put them in touch with suicide prevention resources.

[7:33] We've had a lot of professionals come to those trainings over the years, and the

[7:35] feedback we have gotten from them is that it didn't just help them in their

[7:38] line of work, but um when they're with their family members, you know, they

[7:42] were at a barbecue and they were talking to a cousin and you know, they asked

[7:45] them, "Are you thinking about suicide?" and they said, "Yes." Um and I also just

[7:49] want to take the opportunity to dispel a myth that if you ask someone if they're

[7:52] thinking about suicide, um that does not put the idea in their head. So, for

[7:56] people who are afraid to bring that up, you know, as a topic of conversation, um

[8:00] please ask. You know, most people um are looking for someone safe to be able to

[8:04] talk to about what they're struggling with and to know that someone is there

[8:07] and that they're not alone. So, um I just also want to put in a plug-in, um

[8:13] you know, call to action for everyone. We're going to have our local Out of the

[8:16] Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk here in Putnam on October 18th. It's going to be

[8:20] kicking off right outside in the parking lot down there. So, we hope that

[8:23] everyone will join us that morning. I think we're kicking the program off at

[8:26] 10:00 a.m. So, if um you can please show up and you know, share with your friends

[8:31] and neighbors. Again, you know, we want the issue to be visible, you know, we

[8:34] want people who um have either lost people to suicide or you know, maybe

[8:38] they're struggling um to know that they're not alone and that there's a

[8:41] community here that cares about them and is, you know, ready, willing, and able

[8:45] to support. So, Anything you guys want to ask?

[8:48] » I just want to say thank you. Um in my position with AFSP, I cover six, seven

[8:53] counties and I use Putnam County as an example to the other counties and what

[8:57] they do for suicide loss, how they work with the Medical Examiner's Department.

[9:02] So, kudos to the the loss team in Putnam. They're amazing and and thank

[9:06] you for all your support. And as Megan had said, there is education available.

[9:11] Um suicide prevention is for everybody. You

[9:13] do not need to be a mental health professional to save a life by suicide.

[9:18] So, [clears throat] I recommend afsp.org. You can find free information,

[9:23] connect with me if you want to bring a training to your constituents. I could

[9:26] do it over Zoom. We don't charge for anything and thank you.

[9:30] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[9:31] » Thanks for doing the hard work. I know that you do.

[9:35] » [applause]

[9:42] [snorts] >> Thank you, Legislator Montgomery, and

[9:44] thank you to our county agencies and community organizations for the great

[9:47] work you do. Um, you're part of what makes Putnam County

[9:50] so special, particularly in such in areas as this. So, thank you very

[9:55] much. And thank you, Legislator Montgomery.

[9:58] Uh, next item is item four, acceptance of minutes. We've got three sets of

[10:02] minutes there. They do not require a vote. Uh, next item is item number five,

[10:07] a correspondence from the county auditor. Uh, there have been no

[10:09] erroneous assessments approved uh for the month of August. Next, we're going

[10:14] into pre-filed resolutions. The first

[10:17] resolution, the first excuse me, committee up is the Rules and Enactments

[10:22] Committee chaired by Legislator Sage. Amy, would you lead us through your

[10:25] agenda? >> Uh, thank you, Chairman Birmingham. On

[10:29] behalf of the Rules, Enactments, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee,

[10:32] and on behalf of Legislators Birmingham and Goldman and myself, I'd like to

[10:35] bring forward agenda item 6A. This is an approval for litigation settlement uh,

[10:41] for Calista Malstrom v. Putnam County. >> Thank you. Any discussion?

[10:48] All in favor? >> Aye.

[10:51] Moving on to agenda item 6B. This is an approval for amending resolution 94 of

[10:57] 2026 regarding the designation of the official newspaper.

[11:02] Uh, we are designating a back up no um, publications um, in case the our

[11:10] original official newspaper is unavailable so

[11:14] that we can get our um,

[11:17] legal in the newspaper as required by the charter.

[11:22] » Thank you. Any discussion? Legislator Crowley.

[11:24] » I just want to say thank you to the committee and the other legislators for

[11:28] entertaining my resolutions so that we can get important things passed that

[11:32] have been stifled in the past and adding to it and make sure that we are

[11:36] continuing to do the people's work and get get these get these laws and and tax

[11:41] savings like the gas uh thank god it wasn't affected, but you know, make sure

[11:45] that they're they're done on time so that the people get the savings or

[11:47] accounts. >> Great.

[11:49] Any further discussion, Legislator Montgomery?

[11:51] » Thank you, Chairman. Um I think I just wanted to make a brief comment since I'd

[11:56] offered some uh alternative language during the Rules Committee discussion. I

[12:00] think this resolution is a practical compromise. It reflects how people get

[12:05] information today, not 40 years ago or no, 100 years ago when the law was

[12:11] established, [laughter] while still making sure we meet all of

[12:14] our legal notice requirements. Um

[12:19] the law does not require newspaper publication or where it does not require

[12:24] newspaper publication, we can we can use the county website, which is faster,

[12:30] more efficient, more accessible. Um and where it does require a newspaper, the

[12:34] Putnam County Press remains our designated official newspaper, but we

[12:39] now have a clear backup and it can't uh if it cannot meet the publication

[12:44] deadline, the press. So, and more importantly to me, the

[12:47] resolution also recognizes the value of our local newspapers, the Highlands

[12:52] Current and the Maybrook News in making sure county information actually reaches

[12:59] people throughout Putnam County. So, the goal

[13:02] here was never simply to choose one newspaper over another. It was to

[13:06] protect the county legally, to avoid miss deadlines, and at the same time

[13:10] give the public the broadest practical access

[13:14] to county notices. So, I think this resolution accomplishes that.

[13:19] » [clears throat] >> Great. Thank you. Any other comment from

[13:22] my colleagues? Seeing none, all in favor?

[13:25] » Aye. >> Aye.

[13:27] » Thank you. Agenda item 6C. This is an approval for a local law.

[13:32] Excuse me. I'm in Excuse [clears throat] me.

[13:35] Fighting a cold. >> [cough]

[13:37] » Amending chapter 55, section 55-12 of Putnam County Code

[13:43] entitled Board of Ethics establishment, qualifications of members, appointment

[13:47] of members, terms of office. This is one of those items that actually

[13:52] um was a We passed previously. We were

[13:56] unable to um get it put into law because of the

[14:00] newspapers and we thereby went back to the drawing board and made

[14:05] a few changes. Um we added um

[14:09] some transparency measures. One being an an

[14:13] an application process that allows their uh

[14:16] applications to be submitted to the legislature.

[14:20] Um we made sure that

[14:23] these are uh we made sure added language to be sure that these are actual

[14:28] nominations that these uh entities will be making

[14:32] and um specified uh full legislature will be making

[14:38] um a

[14:40] nomination in case uh we don't have a minority chair.

[14:45] Few of the changes. >> Right. Thank you. Any comment from my

[14:47] colleagues? Legislator Gouldman.

[14:50] » Thank you, Chairman. Um even though I have some issues with

[14:54] uh some of this, I do understand that a functioning ethics board is needed here

[14:59] in Putnam County. Currently, there are two members of this

[15:03] board. That means it's non-functioning. I'm glad that we got rid of the

[15:07] political party bosses getting involved with uh an ethics board. There's really

[15:12] no place for that on an ethics board. Where it should not be.

[15:17] Uh there are other issues like giving the chair of the legislature nominating

[15:21] two seats. It should not be the chair, it should be the full legislative body.

[15:26] And not allowing a member to be appointed who's an employee or not

[15:32] when I'm looking at the whole picture right here.

[15:34] One of the current board members at the this time is a former Putnam County

[15:41] personnel director who served on the board while he was personnel director.

[15:46] And everyone will agree, I'm sure everyone will agree, that

[15:51] he in that position he was probably the best personnel director in the county,

[15:56] the state, and in the country probably. Um to leave out this type of individual

[16:03] when I'm looking at the total mix of the county and I think we should. Even

[16:08] though I have issues with this, I understand we need an ethics board and

[16:11] I'm not going to hold this up, so I'll be supporting it.

[16:15] » Thank you. Any other comments? >> I would just add to echo Legislator

[16:18] Sage, um it's almost fortuitous that the newspaper publication wasn't made

[16:23] through no fault of ours. Uh it was just a

[16:26] time in the year when they didn't have a weekly

[16:29] um publication and that's why it didn't get

[16:31] printed. Um but it gave us an opportunity to revisit

[16:34] and improve it and for those reasons that you pointed out I I think that uh

[16:39] was fortuitous. Um

[16:41] seeing no other comment, I would ask for a roll call vote.

[16:46] » Legislator Adnesio? I'll be recusing this evening due to pending matter.

[16:52] Legislator Crawley? >> Yes.

[16:54] » Legislator D'Angelo? >> Yes.

[16:56] » Legislator Gouldman? >> Yes.

[16:59] » Legislator Montgomery? >> Yes.

[17:01] » Legislator Reagan? >> Yes.

[17:03] » Legislator Russo? >> Yes.

[17:05] » Legislator Sage? >> Yes.

[17:08] » Chairman Birmingham? >> Yes.

[17:10] » Motion carries. >> Thank you, Legislator Sage. Our next

[17:12] committee up is the Health, Social, Education, Environmental Committee

[17:15] chaired by Legislator Montgomery. Nancy? >> Uh sure, on behalf of the health

[17:20] committee members, Legislators Adnesio and Russo, I present item 6D,

[17:26] a $173,195

[17:29] budgetary amendment for the Early Learning Centers

[17:33] 4410 program, which is a specialized program serving a small group of

[17:38] students with specific staffing and student to staff requirements.

[17:44] Um this budgetary recognizes program revenue and

[17:48] appropriates those funds for the related costs, primarily care at private

[17:52] institutions, transportation, and other operating expenses. And there is no

[17:57] fiscal impact to the county in 2026 or 2027.

[18:03] » Thank you. Any discussion? Legislator Reagan.

[18:07] » Thank you, Chairman. I have a question through the chair to Legislator

[18:11] Montgomery. Based on what we discovered last week in the distribution of funds,

[18:17] especially with the Early Learning Center here, can we be certain that the

[18:21] funds being allocated here is going to the Early Learning Center and will be

[18:24] spent for the children as as desired? >> I don't think we'll know until we get

[18:30] the receipts, but I mean, I'm pretty confident. I can't imagine that they

[18:34] would be spending it on another anything else.

[18:37] » I imagine you and I will follow up on that. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.

[18:41] Thank you. Any other comments? Seeing none, all in favor?

[18:45] » Aye. >> Aye.

[18:48] » Um Sorry.

[18:52] See next. Okay. >> [laughter]

[18:54] » 6E. On uh on behalf of Legislators Adnesio and Russo of the Health

[18:59] Committee, I present 6 E.

[19:03] I'll wait. >> E. Yes.

[19:04] » E. >> Yep.

[19:05] » Um budgetary amendment for the Early Learning Centers 40 4410 program, uh

[19:13] special Is that Am I do Am >> No, no, this is the special care private

[19:17] institutions. >> Yeah, sorry.

[19:19] » No problem. >> So, I make a motion to move that.

[19:22] » Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor?

[19:26] » Aye. >> Thank you, Legislator Montgomery. Next

[19:29] we have up the Personnel Committee chaired by Legislator Ednusia. Tony?

[19:32] » Thank you, Chairman Birmingham. On behalf of Legislators Russo, Sage, and

[19:36] myself, I make a motion to approve the emotional

[19:41] support animals. This was discussed in committee.

[19:44] This will be allowing therapy dogs at the Children's Advocacy Center.

[19:48] And I am full support of this, allowing a therapy dog at the center to calm and

[19:53] comfort children who are experiencing anxiety during stressful experiences.

[19:59] And I really am very happy to see this move forward

[20:02] this evening. >> Thank you.

[20:05] Any discussion? Legislator Montgomery.

[20:08] » I'm really happy to support this. I'd like to expand this throughout the whole

[20:12] county, and I'll just go on record by saying I guess I'll be doing some

[20:15] research to see what other counties do as far as allowing therapy dogs. I was

[20:20] really disappointed um a couple of years ago when we banned

[20:24] dogs from all county buildings other than service dogs. I think, you know,

[20:28] regardless if it's a therapy dog um or a service dog, therapy dogs specifically

[20:34] can provide a great resource and fun and change the whole vibe of any

[20:40] institution, which I think is sometimes sorely needed for morale. Um I think

[20:46] sometimes, without us knowing, we do see therapy dogs being or not even therapy

[20:51] dogs, adoption dogs being brought into county buildings.

[20:55] Um and that's always fun. So, we're we're uh

[21:00] It happens here, and some of us are breaking the law.

[21:05] » Well, um I would concur with you. I I I don't think I'm the only one in the room

[21:09] who would remember Judge Hickman bringing in a black lab

[21:13] to the county courthouse and it was always a

[21:16] lab is of course a very gentle animals and it did kind of

[21:21] make it feel more homey and and I do see the

[21:24] liability issues perhaps but yeah sometimes the rules can get a

[21:28] little too stringent but this is certainly separate apart from that this

[21:32] is certainly more welcoming a step in the right direction anyway.

[21:35] » So thank you for that. >> Any other of my colleagues have any

[21:38] comments? Seeing none all in favor?

[21:40] » Aye. >> Aye.

[21:42] » Thank you Legislator Adnezio. Next we have the Physical Services Committee

[21:45] chaired by Legislator Goldman. Bill? >> Thank you Chairman. On number 6G we have

[21:49] a budgetary amendment 26A068. This is from the Department of Public

[21:55] Works. We have a check in the amount of $4,793.60

[22:01] which was received in 2024 from the Progressive Insurance in 2024

[22:07] of which $350 was supplied the DPW's revenue line to offset a collection fee

[22:14] charge and the balance was placed in deferred revenue for the future. The DPW

[22:20] Commissioner has requested these funds be made available.

[22:25] » Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor?

[22:29] » Aye. >> Aye.

[22:30] » Thank you. Item number 6H. We have an approval for a grant application for the

[22:35] community residency economic sustainability and

[22:39] technology program. This is from the Bureau of Emergency Services facilities

[22:44] repairs. It is for $100,000 administered by the Dormitory Authority.

[22:50] » Any discussion? Seeing none all in favor?

[22:54] » Aye. >> Aye.

[22:56] » Thank you. Item number 6I. We have an approval for a previously authorized

[23:01] funding from PIN 8761. 5.

[23:06] for Stone Ridge Avenue at Drewville Road the intersection project. We are doing

[23:12] this resolution to reconnect the project labor agreement.

[23:17] » Thank you. Any discussion? Legislator Crowley.

[23:20] » I just want to say thank you. I'm glad that the powers approved on this. This

[23:23] is going to make for safer travel for our residents to get to the

[23:27] hospital. It's going to give

[23:31] people that are either in the you know law enforcement first responders or

[23:36] people that are just taking family members to get there.

[23:39] Safer routes of traffic and just just make it a much nicer road and you've

[23:43] been there recently it's it's not not the best way to get to a hospital. So

[23:47] I'm glad that the federal government approved it and that we got where we are

[23:51] and I can't wait to see the project in and hopefully be completed in in a good

[23:56] amount of time. >> Thank you indeed

[23:58] for those of you of us who have been there the sight lines depending on where

[24:02] you're coming in at that intersection can be a bit challenging. So thank you

[24:04] for that. Any other comments? Seeing none all in favor?

[24:08] » I. >> Thank you Legislator Goldman. Next we

[24:11] have the audit administration committee chaired by Legislator

[24:15] Crowley. >> Thank you Chairman Birmingham on behalf

[24:19] of myself Legislator Reagan and Legislator Russo I'd like to move item

[24:23] 6J which is the approval of the fund transfer 2016206.

[24:28] That's the Department of General Services cover chargeback for vehicle

[24:32] leasing in the county departments. This was item seven in the audit committee.

[24:37] Um can look it over we talked about it.

[24:41] And it is in the amount of 48,600 dollars.

[24:47] » Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none all in favor?

[24:52] » I. >> [clears throat]

[24:55] » Item number 6K is the approval and authorization of legislators to attend

[24:59] September's New York State Association of Counties conference. This was agenda

[25:03] item number eight at the Audit and Administration meeting. This is a

[25:07] conference that happens twice a year for people that aren't familiar with it.

[25:11] They offer different breakout classes and different things that are coming

[25:15] down from mandates from Albany and five out of the nine legislators seem to be

[25:20] attending this year. >> Thank you. Any discussion?

[25:25] All in favor? >> Aye.

[25:27] » Thank you Legislator Crowley. Next we're on to the Budget and Finance

[25:32] Committee which consists of all legislators and I chair that committee.

[25:34] We have three items before us this evening.

[25:37] First one is item 6L, approval sunlight and public disclosure requirements in

[25:42] connection or relation to the county's fund balance allocation procedures.

[25:47] Um I'll move it on behalf of the committee

[25:51] but I'd first like to give a little context to this.

[25:54] I may have sounded like a broken record the last few years.

[25:57] Last year and a half I've been back on this legislature.

[26:01] I really have a concern about the way our fund balance is being allocated. As

[26:08] of December 20, excuse me, December 31st, 2024 we have a total fund balance

[26:13] of almost $191 million. And that is separate and apart from our

[26:18] 2025-2026 operating budget of $205 million. So

[26:23] it's almost approaching the amount of our operating budget. And there's a

[26:29] certain entity called the Government Accounting Standards Board. It's an It's

[26:33] a national board. They put out statements every year or every

[26:36] frequently. GASB 54 was put into place in 2012.

[26:40] That was a statement that allowed a county legislature such as ours to

[26:45] delegate our ability to allocate fund balance to the chief fiscal officer of

[26:49] the county which of course is our Commissioner of Finance.

[26:53] Um again, that went into effect in 2010 for

[26:55] the first 2 years of that statement. This legislature

[27:00] um allocated fund balance. And then in 2012, um and I was on the legislature at

[27:06] that point, I probably voted for it. Um we delegated that power to the

[27:10] Commissioner of Finance. But our amount of fund balances changed

[27:14] dramatically since that time. In 2012, our fund balance was about $38 million.

[27:20] That's not a little bit amount of money, that's a lot of money, but it certainly

[27:24] was nowhere near the hundred almost $191 million we have today. So for the last

[27:29] 14 years, it's been um

[27:32] in the purview of the County Commissioner of Finance.

[27:35] Um and this resolution is not a reflection

[27:38] on any of the three that have served in that position since that delegation took

[27:42] place. But I think because we are getting to a point where there's so much

[27:47] fund balance, and we've been there for quite a while, and I said this in

[27:50] committee when I returned to this legislature about a year and a half ago

[27:54] after having left it at $38 million in 2012 to find out it was almost a hundred

[27:58] at that point, $176 million before we got the 2024 audit, where it's now

[28:04] almost $191, I almost fell out of my chair. That That money's being allocated

[28:09] by one person outside of public scrutiny. And if we

[28:14] take this ability back to this legislature,

[28:17] not going to say we're always going to get it right, but at least we'll do it

[28:20] in public, and it'll be subject to public scrutiny and public comment. So

[28:25] that's some of my impetus behind putting this forward.

[28:30] Again, there's two things that I think we have a problem with, and we're we're

[28:33] getting into the budget season coming up in the next 6 weeks or so.

[28:37] Um from the legislature standpoint, we have these what I will call

[28:41] artificial allocations. We have allocations that are put into the fund

[28:46] balance that are the same allocations year after year after year, whether it's

[28:51] a capital fund that's been sitting at roughly about $15 million for the last

[28:56] four or five years, unspent, unreturned back to the county residents.

[29:01] I'm not a big fan of tax and hoard, but I'm also not a big fan of tax and spend

[29:04] either. So, I think whatever decisions we make once we

[29:09] reassume this power assuming it passes tonight and

[29:12] receives the county executive's approval, if it's not vetoed, I think we

[29:17] can have those discussions about the appropriate and proper ways to allocate

[29:21] fund balance, and those discussions will be made in the public with proper public

[29:25] scrutiny. So, I've probably talked enough about this from my perspective,

[29:29] so I'll open it up to my colleagues if any of my colleagues have any comments

[29:34] or questions. Legislature and Nisio. >> I think just to put it in simple terms,

[29:38] we are going to return to status quo restoring the county's prior practice.

[29:43] » Thank you. Any other comments? Legislature Crowley.

[29:46] » I just for people listening, I think it's important for them to understand

[29:50] the difference between restricted and unrestricted funds, so if you'd just let

[29:54] me have a moment. >> Restricted funds are grants, programs

[29:57] created and funded by law for specific purposes like forfeiture assets, stop

[30:01] DWI, opioid settlement funds, capital project funds, trust fund,

[30:06] um it's in accordance with GAAP, debt

[30:09] service fund, and then unrestricted would be purchase on orders for

[30:14] subsequent year expenditures, retirement, capital projects, tax

[30:17] stabilization, insurance, post employment, callable bonds, state aid,

[30:22] disaster recovery, judgments and settlements. So, I just think people at

[30:25] home who are watching, I wanted them to understand the difference between

[30:28] restricted and unrestricted funds, so they when they're looking at it, they

[30:31] understand what what and what it's being assigned to and kind of where the money

[30:35] falls. >> Indeed, that's a good point. The the two

[30:38] buckets, if you will, restricted and unrestricted,

[30:41] out of the about 191 million right now, I'm going to be off a little

[30:45] bit, but out of that 191 million, it's only about 23 million that's restricted.

[30:50] The balance of that is unrestricted, and some of that is allocated, but again,

[30:54] hopefully we'll come back and as a legislature and and make some other

[30:58] appropriations, or maybe just God forbid return it to the taxpayers.

[31:03] I'm looking forward to at least having that discussion if not actually doing

[31:06] it, which I'm inclined to do so. Thank you. Legislator Crowley. Any other of my

[31:11] colleagues have any comments? Legislator Reagan.

[31:15] » Thank you, Chairman. While I'm sure many of my colleagues perhaps feel the same

[31:18] way, I wish that the person proposing this resolution would explain it in

[31:22] greater detail to us. I want to express my support for this legislation.

[31:28] » Thank you. Sure. Legislator Montgomery.

[31:32] » I didn't understand that. You were looking for more detail from him?

[31:36] » Well, [laughter] I could give I could go on if you'd like. I mean

[31:39] » Yeah. I appreciate I

[31:42] » That was a Tommyism. Okay. [laughter] I think he was being sarcastic.

[31:46] » I have a comment. >> Legislator Montgomery.

[31:49] » I appreciate Legislator Ed Nimmons' sentiment that this is really

[31:53] simply about sunlight. Our fund balance is vastly larger than it was when this

[31:58] policy was adopted in 2012, right? So, I believe decisions involving that much

[32:04] public money should happen openly, right? So, with the legislature and the

[32:09] public like able to see and understand them. And maybe Dan needs to talk some

[32:15] more about it. >> [laughter]

[32:17] » I'll spare you. Any other legislators have any comments?

[32:22] On this, I'd like to ask for a roll call vote, please.

[32:25] » I was just going to add Thank you. We also have to I will let I just covered

[32:29] to you. We also acquired a lot during COVID doing to ARPA due to ARPA and the

[32:34] Wafer settlement. Um so, there was a big jump in in our revenue there, too. So,

[32:39] that's that's something to know. >> Indeed.

[32:41] Thank you. Roll call vote, please. >> Legislator Adnesio.

[32:45] » Yes. >> Legislator Crowley.

[32:47] » Yes. >> Legislator D'Angelo.

[32:49] » Yes. >> Legislator Gouldman.

[32:51] » Yes. Yes. >> Legislator Montgomery.

[32:53] » Yes. >> Legislator Reagan.

[32:56] » Yes. >> Legislator Russo.

[32:57] » Yes. >> Legislator Sage.

[33:00] » Yes. >> Chairman Birmingham.

[33:01] » Yes. >> Motion carries.

[33:03] » Thank you. Item 6M, approval resolution requesting an audit by the office of the

[33:07] New York State Comptroller to audit the county's fund balance. I'll move that on

[33:10] behalf of the committee. Uh, just a little color on this one as well. Uh,

[33:14] it's almost a companion or uh, hand it goes hand in hand with 6L.

[33:18] Because we have so much money in our fund balance, uh, that's taxpayer money,

[33:22] um, I'd like the state comptroller to weigh

[33:26] in. Now, we can't command that the state comptroller do not it. I should be clear

[33:29] about this. This is merely a request, um, and uh, you know, this will also

[33:35] accompany a letter from me, as the resolution says, to request that

[33:39] specifically. But, what I want to do is is well, I and if this passes, what we

[33:44] all want to have happen is for the state comptroller to give us some guidance as

[33:48] to what is a reasonable amount of fund balance. Now, the comptroller has never

[33:53] in his, um, reports on other counties or

[33:56] municipalities fund balanced said what a reasonable amount is. That's

[34:00] he's he's said that's not his job, and I would agree with him. But, at least

[34:03] perhaps they could give us some pointers as to how much is a reasonable amount,

[34:07] how much is too much. I happen to think 191 million is too much. That's not

[34:12] being returned to the taxpayers. And, uh, also I I'd like the comptroller to

[34:16] drill down into not only the what I call the artificial allocations

[34:21] with respect to our fund balance, um, again, which is

[34:26] almost $82 million as of December 31st, 2024. I suspect that number's going to

[34:32] go up higher once we get to 25 audit, which will be coming out in a few weeks.

[34:36] That number is probably going to be a lot higher. And again, those allocations

[34:40] are made today

[34:43] outside of public purview. We only get to see them at some point, sometimes 18

[34:47] months after those are made. Those allocations. So, I want some input on

[34:51] that um as well as I'd like a discussion, and

[34:55] this is a little bit off topic, but a lot of our fund balance, you may have

[34:58] seen the memo I put out yesterday to the Commissioner of Finance, to which she

[35:02] responded today, we're locking up a lot of our fund

[35:05] balance in investments that have breakage fees. In other words, we are

[35:08] investing money uh our fund balance, which is allowed,

[35:12] there's nothing wrong with that. The General Municipal Law Section 11 allows

[35:15] for that. But a lot of these um

[35:18] investments come with breakage fees, so that if we need the money, we're going

[35:21] to have to pay penalty to get it back before maturity. Um and again, that's a

[35:26] a power that's delegated to our Commissioner of Finance by the charter,

[35:30] so a resolution can't undo that. But um I'd like to have the

[35:34] controller look at that as well. Um those uh we got a list of about $2

[35:39] million breakage breakage fees if we were to get out of

[35:42] our current certificates of deposit. So, before maturity, some of which go out

[35:46] for three or four years. So, that is a significant amount of

[35:50] money being taxpayer money being tied up um in investments, making money, yes,

[35:56] but not going back to the taxpayers. So, those are just some of the things that I

[36:00] I hope the controller looks at. Again, he's it's [snorts] his job, and he can

[36:04] do it or not, but I I think we have to be on record to ask him to at least take

[36:08] a look at it and give us some some advice. So, that's my uh thoughts on

[36:12] that. Do any of my colleagues have any thoughts on this this item M?

[36:17] » Legislator Montgomery. >> That's something I'll never

[36:21] get get comfortable with is is I guess investing public money. I know

[36:26] it's done. I know, I mean I've been a member of not-for-profits where

[36:30] we do it, but we're taking like donors' money, so we're taking the public's

[36:33] money and investing it.

[36:36] » Yeah. >> Like whatever. Um but to me, like you,

[36:39] these resolutions go together. One increases transparency in our own

[36:43] process and the other just invites independent review of that process, so

[36:48] I'll be supporting it. >> Thank you.

[36:51] Legislator Adnauseam. >> Thank you. I'm in favor of requesting an

[36:55] audit by the state controller. These audits examine fund balance,

[36:59] spending, and disbursements, and the audits are intended to improve fiscal

[37:03] management and strengthen accountability.

[37:06] I believe this audit, if it gets done, if they agree to do this, will help

[37:10] protect our taxpayers and hold government accountable.

[37:14] » Thank you. Any other legislator? Legislator Sage.

[37:20] » Um you've said it over and over again. This is taxpayer money. This money

[37:23] belongs to the people. I think they know better how to spend their own

[37:28] money. We need to slow the siphon of uh government money

[37:33] um when we have plenty of it. And we also need to be good stewards of

[37:37] taxpayer dollars. Um we can't [clears throat] shove it in a mattress.

[37:40] We have to invest it in savings so we can accumulate growth for

[37:45] the taxpayer. Um our commissioner is very conservative with our taxpayer

[37:49] money. But we need to be even more conservative

[37:52] in taking that money from the taxpayer. Um the the

[37:57] we can't keep taking money from taxpayers.

[38:00] Like when last year we had so much discussion about lowering the tax rate

[38:05] for uh sales tax

[38:08] for um people [clears throat] in Putnam County.

[38:11] We ended up not winning our our battle. We ended up

[38:14] giving more money to the municipalities instead of giving it back to the

[38:16] taxpayer. It's time that we start slowing the

[38:21] siphon of tax money to the government and giving it back to the people who are

[38:25] actually paying it. I mean, it's their money, it's coming out of their pocket.

[38:29] They need to pay for groceries and gas, and um I think it's important that we

[38:32] have a plan going forward um where we can be responsible in

[38:39] taxing and taking money from people. So, I'm very much in favor of this.

[38:45] » Thank you. Any other legislator have any comments?

[38:48] Seeing none, I'll ask for a roll call vote, please.

[38:53] » Legislator Adnesio? >> Yes.

[38:55] » Legislator Crowley? >> Yes.

[38:57] » Legislator D'Angelo? >> Yes.

[38:59] » Legislator Gouldman? >> Yes.

[39:01] » Legislator Montgomery? >> Yes.

[39:03] » Legislator Reagan? >> Yes.

[39:05] » Legislator Russo? >> Yes.

[39:06] » Legislator Sage? >> Yes.

[39:08] » Chairman Birmingham? >> Yes.

[39:10] » Motion carries. >> Thank you. The last item for the Budget

[39:13] and Finance Committee is item five, excuse me, six N, approval,

[39:16] reaffirmation, and implementation of Resolution 304 of 2025, authorizing the

[39:21] immediate expenditure of remaining funds for food insecurity.

[39:25] Um I'm moving on behalf of the committee, but I'd like to turn it over

[39:27] to Legislator Montgomery, who is the original sponsor for this, if you're

[39:30] ready or >> I think so.

[39:32] » Okay. >> What I What I learned today is that this

[39:34] is a very complex issue and difficult to explain. I was on the phone with the

[39:38] press today and trying to help them understand and not confuse it with

[39:43] Resolution 221 of 2026, which we passed last month, and they're two completely

[39:48] different resolutions. Um Do you want the long version?

[39:53] » Sure. >> All right. So, in November 2025, during

[39:57] the federal shutdown, I I want to preface

[40:00] I want to preface this with a couple of things. One, this is a really good

[40:03] example of why the previous two resolutions needed to pass, because this

[40:08] is one of those things that um wasn't we weren't aware of it

[40:14] explicitly, let's say. So, and and two I'll probably disagree with

[40:19] Legislator Sage in how that money should go back to the taxpayer. This is one of

[40:23] those solutions to how the money should go back to taxpayers. I didn't agree so

[40:29] much with the reduction of sales tax. We have a lower sales tax rate than

[40:34] an average of what, 66% in the in the country?

[40:39] Um well, we're in the 66%. So, we'll say that. But,

[40:44] um lowering the tax rate could be or giving money back to the taxpayer could

[40:49] be done in many more ways like services, which we um desperately need in this

[40:55] county in some areas. So, uh in November 2025

[41:01] during the shutdown, this legislature approved resolution 304 with the county

[41:05] executive's approval transferring 150,000 into three specific agency

[41:10] contributions. $75,000 for the United Way, 50,000 for

[41:15] Putnam CAP, and 25,000 for Cornell Cooperative. All addressing our food

[41:20] insecurity SNAP crisis. That shutdown ended quickly, and the

[41:26] county executive advised us that the eligible expenses would be reimbursed

[41:31] through November 14th. Um

[41:35] so, in essence, those agencies only had a couple of days to spend that money.

[41:40] So, he said that any unspent funds could remain encumbered and available should

[41:45] we face another similar federal funding interruption. Um

[41:50] we subsequently learned that none of the $150,000 authorized by resolution 304

[41:56] was ultimately distributed. So, I want to make one thing especially clear. This

[42:01] is completely separate from the additional 150,000 we placed into the

[42:07] 2026 food insecurity program um during the budget process we put in

[42:14] sub contingency. So, the need that prompted resolution

[42:19] 304 has not disappeared. In fact, federal snap changes now being

[42:25] implemented are placing new pressures on families and families directly in Putnam

[42:30] County. Our data shows the increase in clients at food pantries and the

[42:37] desperate need for food security. Social Services departments and food food

[42:43] providers are calling me every day. So, Feeding New York State reported that in

[42:47] June nearly 200,000 New Yorkers had lost access to snap over the preceding year

[42:53] and that food banks were already seeing longer lines and increased need. So,

[42:58] tonight we're doing two things. First, we're reaffirming that resolution 304

[43:02] still matters and that its purpose was never fulfilled. And second, through the

[43:07] accompanying budget transfer, we are putting the $150,000

[43:11] back into those three agencies so the money can actually be used for food

[43:16] insecurity. So, I appreciate that the County Executive and the Finance

[43:21] Commissioner have now worked with us on the budgetary

[43:24] to make this happen. It really comes down to one thing very simple. The

[43:28] legislature appropriated these funds in 2025 for food insecurity. The need still

[43:35] exists arguably more urgently now and I want to see those dollars finally put to

[43:40] work to help Putnam County families. Thanks.

[43:44] » Thank you. Any discussion?

[43:49] I'm sorry, legislator at Nuzzio then legislator Gouldman.

[43:51] » Okay, yes. I'm absolutely in favor of this moving forward.

[43:55] Many people don't realize that here in Putnam County there are so many people

[43:59] struggling. Not only the households that fall below

[44:03] the poverty level, but we have a hardworking families, our veterans,

[44:08] seniors, people dealing with many medical costs.

[44:12] I've been involved first hand in Putnam County as I partnered with Second Chance

[44:15] Foods during COVID, which is

[44:19] 5 years? Yes, we had a weekly distribution at the

[44:24] church, Mount Carmel Baptist Church, and everybody came.

[44:27] And we put the food in their car, and I want to say that it's still going strong

[44:32] today. There is still a weekly Wednesday

[44:35] distribution for the people in need, and there's so many people in need in Putnam

[44:39] County. So, I'd like to give more money,

[44:42] but I'm happy to see this move forward this evening.

[44:45] » Thank you. Legislator Gouldman. >> Thank you, Chairman.

[44:49] Uh Putnam County is one of the 25 richest counties in the United States.

[44:54] But, there are residents who do fall between the cracks.

[44:57] Even though many of us are doing well, 34% of the county residents live from

[45:02] paycheck to paycheck. That's really really not good.

[45:06] Uh this is a drop in a bucket. I'm glad we're doing this. Uh but, these

[45:10] individuals are our neighbors, our friends, and whatever we can do moving

[45:15] forward will be very helpful to our friends and to our neighbors. So, I'll

[45:18] be supporting this. >> Thank you. Any other discussion?

[45:21] Legislator Sage. >> Thank you. I see the need for this. Um

[45:26] I saw the need for this when we passed this originally.

[45:29] Um I was flabbergasted because I thought the

[45:33] legislature passed it. It was signed by the county executive. There was a press

[45:37] release that I see that I that I copied uh saying that this will this is going

[45:42] to go out to our um >> [clears throat]

[45:45] » uh United Way and the Cornell Cooperative, and they've been working

[45:48] with other agencies to uh use this money, and then come to find

[45:53] out in a memo that was written to Legislator

[45:57] Montgomery that uh I'm announced to me that it had never

[46:00] been spent. It was taken back, and it went back into the fund balance at the

[46:04] end of the year. So, I I don't know how that happens. How

[46:08] does that happen with the with the legislature appropriates the money and

[46:11] then all of a sudden it just doesn't get appropriated

[46:15] in the middle of the night and a week later it's back into the fund balance.

[46:18] I'm I'm I was just flabbergasted by the whole

[46:21] thing. Um I'm glad we're making it right. I

[46:24] understand maybe there were some technicalities, maybe the government

[46:28] would reopen, but we still had appropriated the money to go to these

[46:31] not-for-profits and they had expected it. I used to run a not-for-profit and

[46:34] that was um you know, you you you you live your life based on these small

[46:39] amount of funds that come to you. So, I'm I'm happy we're doing it. I'm happy

[46:42] we're trying to make it right. Um I just have

[46:45] the questions about how it happened to begin with and I'm upset by that.

[46:50] » Thank you. Any other legislator Legislator Russo?

[46:53] » Thank you. I 100% support this.

[46:57] Um I cook monthly for my local soup kitchen

[47:03] and feed um anyone who comes in and it's not

[47:07] always someone who needs it financially. It's the um

[47:14] the locals that want someone to talk to.

[47:17] They don't you know, want to cook for themselves.

[47:21] They want to someone to just sit and listen to them.

[47:25] Um I know we do have a huge need in Putnam County.

[47:29] Um the only thing I would say is that I did think this kind of got squashed

[47:35] because the government opened back up and we weren't going to fund it, but I'm

[47:39] happy that we figured it out and the money's there for

[47:43] these agencies to help feed people that need it.

[47:48] » Thank you. Any other discussion?

[47:50] » I just have to clarify one uh go ahead. I just said

[47:54] » Legislator Crowley. >> I'm I'm glad that we're doing this.

[47:57] It's It's needed. People are struggling. I'm going to echo Legislator Russo. I I

[48:03] think the stipulation that that was in there was

[48:07] due to federal funding and it was It was the executive order from President Trump

[48:11] that that in the government reopened. So, I think that's where we're missing

[48:15] the [snorts] part where why it didn't get funded. I'm glad we are funding it.

[48:19] There's never going to be enough money to, you know, give people

[48:24] so I'm glad it's happened but I that is where where it got stuck and I'm glad

[48:29] that it was brought to our attention again and that

[48:32] we're past hopefully passing it this evening.

[48:36] » Thank you. Legislator Montgomery. >> Yeah, I just I would like to clarify a

[48:39] couple of things. One regarding that memo that was sent to me. Any memo is

[48:44] sent to the entire legislature. It was that infamous November 18th memo

[48:51] that did say that this money will remain encumbered for this [clears throat]

[48:55] purpose despite the federal government reopening snap.

[49:00] So, this money supposedly had been encumbered for this purpose and my point

[49:05] is that this crisis has not gone away. It's only gotten worse.

[49:10] And I do have something else to say but I can't remember what it was but

[49:14] » [laughter] >> if you look at the original October

[49:18] 31st, 2025 letter of necessity where this was laid out to us by the

[49:23] [clears throat] county executive, there was no indication ever that it was going

[49:28] to be contingent on the government government reopening snap. That's what I

[49:33] wanted to say. I just remembered it. >> Good point. Thank you.

[49:37] Legislator Russo and then Legislator Council has a comment

[49:41] » Reagan. >> Reagan. I'm sorry. Reagan.

[49:45] » We look alike. >> [laughter]

[49:47] » Thank you, Chairman. >> [clears throat]

[49:50] » Far be it from me not to say the uncomfortable part of the conversation,

[49:53] but and I hear them from all my colleagues here and many of you as a

[49:57] matter of fact walked the walk by going out and participating in these programs

[50:01] and seeing frontline firsthand the need that's out there, but

[50:06] I I can't help but I can't let the opportunity go by without pointing out

[50:11] that some of the issues with SNAP programs and other ones that have

[50:16] transpired have revealed tremendous tremendous amounts of fraud and

[50:21] malfeasance and some of that shakeout is not a concern at this point because

[50:26] we're going to fund this and we're going to fund what should have been funded

[50:29] last year, but I do want to keep our antenna up to

[50:35] ensure and I think that we are with these three individual nonprofits we're

[50:39] working here right here, but they're working with right here. But we can't

[50:42] not pretend that there is sometimes unfortunately massive issues with

[50:49] distribution of money's when it comes to SNAP and other benefits. And in that

[50:54] same vein, if we are and I'll we all call out myself, if we are going to call

[50:59] out fraud and abuse of the system when it comes to those who are accepting

[51:05] benefits, we have to look at that ourselves and

[51:09] and I I can't help but think that there's some of us here that feel that

[51:13] way pertaining to last year's resolution. There there was money that

[51:17] we both thought was allocated, we thought it was going to feed people, we

[51:21] thought it was going to three upstanding organizations that were going to ensure

[51:26] that almost every part of that dollar gets

[51:29] onto somebody's plate and that didn't [clears throat] happen. So, I'm going to

[51:33] take the moment here to point it out say, if I'm going to yell about fraud on

[51:36] the back end, I can't not point it out when I see it on the back end in my own

[51:40] organization. Thank you, Chairman. >> Good point. No, that's very well taken.

[51:44] Fraud and and abuse is something we always have to be on guard of.

[51:49] We we're hearing about that every day in the news,

[51:52] fraud and abuse, but we have something that the federal government does not

[51:55] have. And that's Michelle Sharkey. I've seen our county auditor. I've seen

[52:00] our county auditor turn back vouchers for paper plates that were bought not on

[52:03] contract. So, rest assured and and in addition to these three organizations

[52:08] being completely upstanding and outstanding,

[52:11] we're we're well served by Michelle. So, thank you for that. Let's leave council.

[52:15] » I think also there's a legal important legal point to be made with respect to

[52:19] this also because our initial resolution that was passed for these funds was

[52:24] taken as an emergency measure. It was therefore eligible to be reimbursed had

[52:29] it been spent. So, there was a fiscal impact to the fact that this money was

[52:33] not spent as we had appropriated because now with this measure this is not under

[52:38] emergency circumstances. It is not eligible for reimbursement. So, had that

[52:42] money been spent, we would have had it back and when we passed this measure, we

[52:46] would have had a zero fiscal impact, you know, because this measure would

[52:50] have been in fact funded it would cuz instead of us having to fund it twice.

[52:55] » Good point. Good point on that. Thank you. [clears throat] So, you know

[52:58] whether a comment or last for roll call vote vote on 6N.

[53:03] » Legislator Adamec. >> Yes.

[53:05] » Legislator Crowley. >> Yes.

[53:07] » Legislator D'Angelo. >> Yes.

[53:09] » Legislator Gouldman. >> Yes.

[53:10] » Legislator Montgomery. >> Yes.

[53:12] » Legislator Reagan. >> Yes.

[53:14] » Legislator Russo. >> Yes.

[53:16] » Legislator Sage. >> Yes.

[53:17] » Chairman Birmingham. >> Yes.

[53:19] » Motion carries. >> Thank you. Next item we have is other

[53:22] business and the first item is item 7A which I think is a Michelle, correct me

[53:27] if I'm wrong, a fiscal companion to to this. It's the actually

[53:32] the moving the 150 to uh to the appropriate lines.

[53:37] Since it hasn't come out of committee officially, I'll move it and

[53:41] Legislator Montgomery, you want to second since it

[53:43] » Second. >> Okay, any discussion? This is simply the

[53:46] fiscal part of that. Going to this legislator

[53:50] » I excuse myself from the all of the other business.

[53:54] » Including this? >> Uh just yeah, I'll anything to do with

[53:57] uh the sheriff's department civil

[53:59] department I'm recusing me. >> Sure. This item 7A though has to do with

[54:03] just the fiscal >> This is a transfer. I'm sorry.

[54:06] » No problem. >> I apologize.

[54:07] » No problem. >> I get ahead of myself.

[54:08] » Okay. This is 7A just the fiscal part of what we just passed in six and

[54:12] » Yes. >> Um any discussion on this?

[54:15] All in favor? >> I.

[54:16] » I. >> Uh next we do have another matter of

[54:20] other business and that is [clears throat]

[54:22] we received today a letter of necessity from the county sheriff asking us to put

[54:28] an item on the agenda tonight. Um

[54:31] I'm I'm going to accept the letter of necessity and put it on the floor, but

[54:34] even though I do that we'll still need to move it and second it and have five

[54:38] votes to get it on the floor. So I will move it uh to put it on the floor. Is

[54:42] there a second? Second. Second. All in favor of putting this on the floor? I.

[54:46] Okay, now it's on the floor and abstained one abstention. I'm sorry I

[54:50] should have done a roll call vote on that. What what do we do a roll call

[54:52] vote vote on it just so it's on the record.

[54:54] » it? >> To accept it, yes. Sorry. Legislator

[54:57] Crowley. >> Legislator Addieglio.

[54:59] » Yes. >> Legislator Crowley.

[55:02] » I abstain. >> Recuse. Abstain.

[55:06] » Yep. Yep. Recuse. That's one of those nights.

[55:10] » Legislator DeAngelo. >> I yes.

[55:13] » Legislator Goldman. >> Yes.

[55:15] » Legislator Montgomery. >> This is just to put it on the floor.

[55:18] » Just to put it on the table. >> Sorry. Yes.

[55:20] » Legislator Reagan. >> Yes.

[55:23] » Legislator Russo. >> Yes.

[55:25] » Legislator Sage. >> Yes.

[55:27] » Chairman Birmingham. >> Yes.

[55:29] » Motion carries. >> Now I will move for discussion the

[55:32] motion itself and I'll just need a second before we discuss it.

[55:35] » Second. >> Okay. Now we've got the uh item before

[55:39] us. Just a quick housekeeping question to

[55:42] both Michelle and Diane, our clerk and our auditor. Is this a one resolution or

[55:46] are there two pieces to it? >> There's two pieces, a fiscal part and a

[55:51] and the substantive part. Okay. >> Thank you. Um

[55:54] Captain, can I trouble you to join us at the podium and give us a brief um we all

[55:59] did receive the memo from the sheriff, not only this afternoon, but the one

[56:02] yesterday with respect to the line transfer. If you could just brief us on

[56:06] uh not only the uh particulars behind it, but also the

[56:10] timeliness of it and why it needs to be considered tonight.

[56:13] » Yeah, my name is Dominic Scimone, I'm a captain with the sheriff's department.

[56:16] Um I oversee the civil unit amongst other things. Um

[56:21] First of all, thank you for allowing us to come forward tonight. Um I'll explain

[56:25] the situation and you can kind of see where I'm coming from. So, in May, we

[56:29] had a retirement of a senior office assistant. And as you're aware, over the

[56:34] years, office assistants have become um

[56:39] their their job duties have changed because they're not drafting letters

[56:42] anymore. They're not proofreading. I mean, we're using AI, we're using

[56:45] computers. So, when she retired in May, that's not the right position anymore.

[56:51] We have a fiscal uh need in that room um in civil and

[56:56] the the position we looked for was a a low-level

[57:01] um fiscal person, a count clerk. So, I

[57:03] worked with finance um starting in April, knowing that the impending

[57:08] retirement was coming. And um it's a big process, you know,

[57:13] it's a big process to to change a title um

[57:17] not only in this county, everywhere. Um but so, we started the process and over

[57:21] the last 5 months, it's it's it's made some progress, but summer vacations,

[57:26] um people's baskets, um they didn't see it

[57:30] right away or it got moved to another part of the desk. Long story short is

[57:34] we're still here, and I still have the vacancy, and I'm only filling the

[57:39] vacancy now with somebody that's on modified duty. And that person leaves in

[57:44] October. That's why I was trying to fill it earlier in the year because there's a

[57:48] training component to it, too. So, um the position I'm in is that I if

[57:53] we waited until another legislative meeting in October,

[57:58] we still have to post it, we still have to have a test, we still have to have us

[58:03] as a Spanish speaker, so we have to have a proficiency test, then we have to have

[58:07] a background investigation, and I mean, we won't get anybody until February. Um

[58:12] it's that critical, that position is that critical because of the the volume

[58:16] of traffic that comes into the civil unit, and the amount of money that that

[58:20] comes in and out um throughout the year. So, that's that's the reason we're here,

[58:25] um and it's there's no fiscal impact in '26 or '27. It's actually it the the

[58:29] salary level is less than what the office assistant was.

[58:32] So, there hasn't been anybody in there since May. I can't anticipate even with

[58:36] an approval tonight that we'll have anybody in there before December. Um

[58:41] that's kind of where we're at. >> Okay.

[58:42] » And it goes from a senior office assistant Spanish speaker to an account

[58:46] clerk {slash} account clerk Spanish speaker.

[58:49] » Great. Thank you. This as as you know did not come through a committee to my

[58:52] colleagues, so what I'd like to do before I open it up to all of my

[58:55] colleagues for any questions I might have, I'd like to start with the two

[58:58] committees that would have substantive review of this. First, I'd like to start

[59:01] with Legislator Adnezio as chair of personnel, and then I'll go to

[59:03] Legislator Reagan as chair of protective.

[59:05] » Thank you. You know, I think that he fully

[59:09] explained the need for this position, and I would be in favor of it.

[59:14] » Thank you. >> Any questions?

[59:15] » Thank you. Legislator Reagan. >> Thank you, Chairman. Um the delays that

[59:20] would uh possibly be incurred were even explained better than my understanding

[59:24] tonight, so thank you for coming here and explaining how quickly

[59:27] [clears throat] we can get out to February here Uh with all the other

[59:30] circumstances, not just the approval you need from the legislature. It sounds

[59:35] quite cumbersome. So, that being said, Chairman, no objections from Protective

[59:38] Services. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any of my other colleagues

[59:41] have any comments or questions? Legislator Montgomery.

[59:46] » I welcome them. >> You answered a lot of my questions, but

[59:49] um so in March we approved a transfer

[59:52] moving administrative position from BCI into the Civil Division. Is this the

[59:57] same position? >> No, that's the Records Clerk.

[1:00:00] » Okay. Okay. [snorts]

[1:00:02] Um so but the Civil Division already has a Principal Account Clerk. You already

[1:00:07] » So that So that Principal Account Clerk, that's that's the higher level position.

[1:00:11] To get accreditation, we have to have two different positions because of the

[1:00:14] checks and balances. So, we already have that Account Clerk, but she's also doing

[1:00:18] 25% of the finance stuff, too. Um

[1:00:21] because we're short there, too. But in any of that, now that this will allow us

[1:00:25] to have two different account persons in there to meet the accreditation

[1:00:28] requirements. >> Okay, so it's about accreditation, not

[1:00:31] so much workload is what I'm What has changed in the workload?

[1:00:34] » Oh Oh, no, no. The work No, the workload is there. The The reason it's going from

[1:00:39] a Senior Officer Assistant to Account Clerk is because there's really a lot

[1:00:42] more money and tracking and deposits and stuff. I mean, we could go with a Senior

[1:00:46] Officer Assistant, but it's not really the right position. The accreditation

[1:00:50] looks for somebody that has some accounting background, and I can't

[1:00:53] really put that in the Senior Officer Assistant requirements in the job

[1:00:56] postings. >> Got you. Um one more. I understand

[1:00:59] there's no I think one more. There's no immediate fiscal impact, but the salary

[1:01:04] grade Is the salary grade or the future cost

[1:01:08] for the Account Clerk title different? >> It's less.

[1:01:11] » Okay, it's Will it change the 2027 anything in the

[1:01:15] 2027 staffing? >> No. Well, it's going to be less than

[1:01:19] the salary we carry for the Senior Officer Assistant.

[1:01:21] » Okay. We've had a lot of changes, staff

[1:01:24] changes in the Sheriff's Department. Um >> An awful lot.

[1:01:27] » An awful lot. I'd love to see a master plan at some point.

[1:01:30] » Well, um during the budget when we go through the budget there's

[1:01:33] we reorganized the whole presentation of the budget and realigned

[1:01:39] um I don't know if this is the right time to talk about this.

[1:01:41] » Um yeah, that's a question that the legislature might come up.

[1:01:43] » So so we realigned a lot of the positions in the Sheriff's Department

[1:01:47] into five organizations instead of 21. Um so you're going to see a lot of

[1:01:51] changes. Um it's it'll be easier to see with the

[1:01:54] budget process. Happy to meet with you offline just to

[1:01:58] show you, you know, what it was. We discussed it a little bit in past

[1:02:01] meetings in the other building. Um but yeah, I'll I'll take

[1:02:05] be happy to show you. >> will come at budget [clears throat]

[1:02:07] time, you think? The if you're reorganizing

[1:02:11] » The So the reorganization part of it takes

[1:02:15] effect January 1st if it's approved by this the legislature and NFA, you know.

[1:02:21] Yeah, I mean January 1st I'd be to have to get approval first.

[1:02:24] » Maybe I maybe I'd suggest if you it might be too preliminary, but if you

[1:02:29] have any background if you have a draft of it for our September Protective

[1:02:35] Services just so we're not hit with it in budget.

[1:02:39] » Um I'll defer to um Chair Protective only because we don't want to preempt

[1:02:44] any I'm sorry. >> Isn't that part of the County

[1:02:47] Executive's budget that he presents to the legislature?

[1:02:49] » The tentative budget? Yeah, um I imagine it would be unless the County Executive

[1:02:54] changes the tentative budget from what was requested.

[1:02:57] » I just know [snorts] in the past with departments and department heads we've

[1:03:00] had preliminary discussions before budget if a if a if a department was

[1:03:05] reorganizing say or there were big changes in the personnel of the

[1:03:08] department. >> is mostly this is mostly a financial

[1:03:11] change with moving orgs and munis. It doesn't really It's not adding anybody.

[1:03:15] It's not increasing anybody. It's just taking them from one org and closing

[1:03:20] that org completely and putting them in a different one.

[1:03:22] » What I might want to do now is just just narrow us back down to this to this side

[1:03:25] if it's okay, just just so we can >> woman protective will

[1:03:28] » Yeah, okay. Thank you. Any other questions for the captain from

[1:03:32] a legislator? Uh any member of the citizens did not go

[1:03:36] through committee, any member of the public have any questions for the

[1:03:38] legislature on this matter? Seeing none, um

[1:03:43] Michelle or Diane, can you walk us through there's two items here, what is

[1:03:46] the first item we're going to be considering?

[1:03:49] » 7B is the approval of the ratification of the Putnam County Sheriff's Employee

[1:03:55] Association MOA. So that has to be addressed first by the legislature and

[1:04:00] if you approve that, then you will address and consider the budgetary

[1:04:05] transfer to support what you approve in the MOA.

[1:04:09] » Okay, so 7B folks is this one and it is for since this is a position that's part

[1:04:15] of a collective bargaining agreement, if we are to do this, we need to pass

[1:04:20] this first before we get to the fiscal part of it. Chicken before the egg or

[1:04:23] egg before the chicken, I guess. So what we have before us here is item 7B,

[1:04:28] approval ratification of the PCSEA MOA specific to reclassification of the

[1:04:33] PCSEA senior office assistant to account clerk uh slash account clerk Spanish

[1:04:39] speaking. I'll move that one on behalf of the legislature since this is an

[1:04:43] additional, I need a second. >> Second.

[1:04:45] » Any discussion on this change to our MOA?

[1:04:49] Seeing none, I'll ask for a roll call vote.

[1:04:52] » Legislator Adamecio. >> Yes.

[1:04:54] » Legislator Crowley. Legislator D'Angelo.

[1:04:58] » Yes. >> Legislator Gould, uh sorry,

[1:05:01] um Gouldman. >> Yes.

[1:05:03] » Legislator Montgomery. >> Yes.

[1:05:05] » Legislator Reagan. >> Yes.

[1:05:07] » Legislator Russo. >> Yes.

[1:05:10] » Legislator Sage. >> Yes.

[1:05:12] » And Chairman Birmingham. >> Yes.

[1:05:13] » Motion carries. >> Okay, next I will move item 7C approval

[1:05:17] budgetary transfer 26T 238 Sheriff's office budget line transfer to fund a

[1:05:22] newly approved PCSEA position of account clerk Spanish speaking. It's this one

[1:05:27] folks it's your typical budget change budgetary amendment

[1:05:30] transfer. Move it on behalf of the legislature. Is there a second?

[1:05:33] » Second. >> Any discussion?

[1:05:37] Roll call vote please. >> Legislator Adnezia.

[1:05:40] » Yes. >> Legislator Crowley, Legislator D'Angelo.

[1:05:43] » Yes. >> Legislator Gouldman.

[1:05:45] » Yes. >> Legislator Montgomery.

[1:05:46] » Yes. >> Legislator Reagan.

[1:05:48] » Yes. >> Legislator Russo.

[1:05:50] » Yes. >> Legislator Sage.

[1:05:51] » Yes. >> Chairman Birmingham.

[1:05:53] » Yes. >> Motion carries.

[1:05:55] » Captain, thank you for joining us tonight and and thank the Sheriff for

[1:05:57] bringing this to our attention. We appreciate it.

[1:05:59] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[1:06:01] » We'll wait for Legislator Crowley to come back.

[1:06:17] Thank you. Uh next item is item number eight. Recognition of the public on any

[1:06:22] agenda item. Uh this is a part of the uh annual excuse me our monthly meeting

[1:06:26] where we invite the public to join us at the podium to ask us any questions or

[1:06:30] make any comments with respect to any item on the agenda. To the extent you

[1:06:34] have any we'd invite you to come to the podium, state your name and the town in

[1:06:37] which you live, and we'd ask that in making any comments you address or

[1:06:41] questions you address them to the legislature. So I'd like to open them up

[1:06:44] to any public comment on any Scott, join us please.

[1:06:55] » Evening all. Scott Seaman, Town of Southeast.

[1:06:58] First in regards to the suicide prevention awareness month, thank you.

[1:07:02] As we all know this is pending and it's throughout the area. Everybody has

[1:07:06] somebody affected. and I would point out the need for the stabilization center

[1:07:10] again. Hopefully, this is something that the

[1:07:12] county can move on. This would be something that can definitely help in

[1:07:16] this category.

[1:07:20] » [snorts]

[1:07:24] » Sorry, I just >> No take your No rush. Take your time.

[1:07:29] » And we talked in the fund balance allocation procedures,

[1:07:35] I would ask also, since we really wanted to bring this out in the open, um

[1:07:41] just to really dig it out more. If we have approximately say 190, and of that,

[1:07:46] let's say 30 is actually not unrestricted, it's restricted. So, now

[1:07:50] we're at 160, which is I agree is still way too much money. You know, in the

[1:07:54] schools, like we have 4%, and that's it. You can't go above that. Now, everything

[1:07:59] else is restricted, different reserves, pay downs, and I

[1:08:02] know there's a lot of talk about benefits for employees and all these

[1:08:05] things. This can be different allocations

[1:08:08] for these type of items, cuz you never want to use these to fund a budget line

[1:08:12] to anything, cuz as it goes out, now you don't have the money, and that will be

[1:08:16] hit on your budget. But if we can break out more of this information, and also,

[1:08:20] while the waiver settlement, COVID, and there were certain items,

[1:08:25] a lot of items that you look at as is pointed out by the sheriffs, there's a

[1:08:29] any number of unallocated, allocated, but unhired positions. You know, what

[1:08:35] percentage of that is the money? So, now you can really look, and as you go on

[1:08:38] through various studies in this area, a lot of these type of

[1:08:42] positions are under offered. So, that's why they're

[1:08:46] not being filled, because they're not proper for the area. Uh being waged

[1:08:50] between Westchester and Fairfield, we all have the same problem finding the

[1:08:54] right people for the compositions based upon the money. So, the more breakout

[1:08:58] you can have, uh probably the easier the process.

[1:09:02] And I would just uh question you to be a little leery on

[1:09:06] putting it now into the legislator while you have the oversight to it. Having

[1:09:13] your financial officer who's trained covered in E&O, all these items to

[1:09:17] properly do it. And when you do your yearly audit, a lot of these funds are

[1:09:21] going to be, for lack of a better phrase, swept into the unrestricted

[1:09:25] account. Is that going to change now if it's coming into you? Maybe it would be

[1:09:29] better if uh either audit or budget um somebody from that office offers you a

[1:09:34] breakdown of this is how much you've allocated, this is how much we spent. So

[1:09:38] you don't get caught unawares or all this money that's sitting there for um

[1:09:44] funding for food programs. You can say, "Hey look, there's 100,000 allocated,

[1:09:48] zero spent." Then you can highlight some items. Obviously it's putting more work

[1:09:52] on you, but maybe that's more of a benefit to you cuz then you're going to

[1:09:56] have actual numbers as opposed to "Oh, we have all this money, we don't know

[1:09:59] what to do." You have something to base that on.

[1:10:03] Once again, I hate volunteering more work on other people, but it's just to

[1:10:07] get you the information that maybe would, you know, help.

[1:10:11] And [clears throat] then in regards to the audit, if this is something you're

[1:10:14] going to ask, um I'm assuming that the county has an auditor and has a

[1:10:18] breakdown, maybe it's better to handle that in-house just to get you the

[1:10:21] numbers while you're waiting for the controller. I mean, the more eyes

[1:10:25] looking at this, the better cuz if you do put this out to the controller and

[1:10:30] how many counties are there out there? You know, maybe um when someone goes to

[1:10:34] the conference, they can sit down with all the other counties and go, "What are

[1:10:37] you guys keeping in your reserve accounts? How are the line items? How do

[1:10:40] you set up your restricted versus unrestricted?" Just once again, get

[1:10:44] everybody here more information so you have more to gauge it on cuz they are

[1:10:47] not going to tell you you know, I've read some of those where they're not

[1:10:50] going to tell you what to do. But you know, so it's hearing from other

[1:10:53] people might be beneficial. And then any anything in regards to food

[1:10:58] insecurity, and I spoke about this last time. You know, thank you. Bring this

[1:11:02] up. It needs to get out. This needs something that needs to continue.

[1:11:06] Uh a couple weeks ago, the United Way Alice report was released. And if you

[1:11:10] really want to see this differences in between and these

[1:11:14] are people that have income, have assets, have jobs, but they can't afford

[1:11:18] high cost of rent, high cost in area, a lack of the proper income jobs. They

[1:11:23] also have restrictions due to child care and other items. You can really see the

[1:11:27] disparity between these items, and this could really help and open your eyes.

[1:11:31] And by going through people like Second Chance Foods, United Way, uh Putnam CAP,

[1:11:35] I've been working with them for years. These are people that know the

[1:11:38] community, are invested in the community, and can also look out for

[1:11:41] your funds to make sure they're done properly. So, I would ask, you know, to

[1:11:45] continue this and set this up in any way you can.

[1:11:49] And as always, you know, you thank you for what you're doing. And um

[1:11:54] I'm just Keep it up. If there's anything we can do, you know, either through the

[1:11:57] school or myself, please let us know. >> Thank you.

[1:12:00] » Thank you, Scott. >> Thank you very much.

[1:12:02] » Any other member of the public have any comments, questions? Please join us.

[1:12:05] Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Um

[1:12:07] so, my name is Nicholas Tell, I'm a town of Patterson resident. Um and the reason

[1:12:11] I'm here, I think it was item 6C. [clears throat] I just wanted to commend

[1:12:14] you all on uh on passing that. I've been following um what's been going on with

[1:12:18] the Board of Ethics um pretty closely. I'm also a

[1:12:21] prosecutor, I'll say that um in Dutchess County. I've prosecuted um

[1:12:27] various government officials, including elected officials. Just tried one uh

[1:12:30] over the summer. Um he was convicted. He's no longer in office. Um but I've

[1:12:34] been following this, and it just bothered my mind that Putnam

[1:12:38] County did not have a a Board of Ethics. Um so, I'm glad that this uh seems like

[1:12:43] a step forward to to getting that back into place. And I also just commend you

[1:12:47] for being more involved with the PICs. I thought it was a little crazy that um

[1:12:51] you know, the county executive was the sort of sole pointer. Um, I think it's

[1:12:55] great that you guys will be more involved with those appointments. I

[1:12:57] think and anything that we can do to protect,

[1:13:00] uh, you know, and prevent tyranny and and bad government conduct is a good

[1:13:05] thing. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you.

[1:13:08] Any other member of the public have any comments or questions?

[1:13:12] » [clears throat] >> Seeing none, we'll move on to the next

[1:13:13] item, uh, item number nine, recognition of legislators. Uh, legislators, go

[1:13:17] around the room here. Legislator Crowley.

[1:13:20] » Um, I'd like to speak, uh, regarding uh, 9/11. So, 25 years ago on September

[1:13:25] 11th, 2001, our nation changed forever. Here in Putnam County, September 11th

[1:13:30] was not something that happened somewhere else. We lost neighbors,

[1:13:33] friends, first responders, and members of our own community. 25 years later, we

[1:13:38] continue to honor them and stand with the families who still carry that loss.

[1:13:42] Across Putnam County, we gather at different ceremonies in different towns,

[1:13:47] but for the same reason, to remember. We remember those we lost, honor the first

[1:13:51] responders who ran towards danger, and those who became sick, still become

[1:13:55] sick, or are sick, or uh, lost their lives in the years that followed.

[1:14:00] As a new generation grows up with no memory of that day, it is our

[1:14:04] responsibility to tell them not only what happened, but what happened

[1:14:07] afterwards. Americans came together, neighbors helped neighbors, communities

[1:14:12] stood together as we were reminded that what unites us is far greater than

[1:14:17] what divides us. 25 years later, our promise still remains the same. We will

[1:14:21] remember their names, we will tell their stories, and we will never forget. God

[1:14:26] bless our 9/11 families, our first responders, Putnam County, and the

[1:14:29] United States of America. Um, there will be several, uh, 9/11

[1:14:34] ceremonies throughout the county from, uh, all over in Cold Spring to

[1:14:39] Patterson, but the two that I'm going to acknowledge are the, um, one at 8:30

[1:14:44] a.m. at the Donald B. Smith campus held by our Youth Bureau and then right

[1:14:48] across the street at Spain Cornerstone Park it starts at 7:00.

[1:14:52] Um, it's a candlelight vigil. It's beautiful. Um, but again, they are all

[1:14:57] over in every single town. More so this year than any other year and let's never

[1:15:02] forget. >> Thank you.

[1:15:04] Legislator, I'm just going around. Legislator Reagan.

[1:15:07] » Thank you, Chairman. Um, so fortuitous that tonight we we had the

[1:15:10] proclamation about suicide prevention and I'm glad the captain is still

[1:15:13] sitting here cuz I want to acknowledge the Putnam County Sheriff's office for

[1:15:18] an incident that transpired within the last week, which is walking the walk.

[1:15:22] We've talked here about setting a culture, trying to set up suicide

[1:15:28] prevention and in a scenario where a person was perched on the western side

[1:15:32] of the county about about to kill themselves.

[1:15:35] Our deputies traversed the woods of the area, found that person and spent

[1:15:41] upwards I think of 2 hours or more talking that person down, right? So,

[1:15:45] there was a a circumstance where the culture, the leadership and the members

[1:15:50] of the Putnam County Sheriff's Department had the right mentality and

[1:15:55] and >> [clears throat]

[1:15:56] » and the agility to get climb up a mountain and find this person, thank

[1:15:59] God, right? But, that all aspects of suicide prevention we've talked about

[1:16:04] here and there's some great people that were up here with Legislator Montgomery

[1:16:07] before and the work they do is amazing, but I wanted to take a moment uh, during

[1:16:12] this particular portion of tonight to recognize Putnam County Sheriff's office

[1:16:16] who again walked the walk when it comes to suicide prevention and did everything

[1:16:21] and beyond to make sure that that person was uh, went home safely that night. So,

[1:16:25] thank you, Captain and thank to your department for for walking the walk.

[1:16:28] Appreciate what you guys do. >> Thank you.

[1:16:32] Legislator DeAngelo. >> Yes, well, Legislator Crowley, um, thank

[1:16:35] you for very touching statement on uh, recognizing um, 9/11 and

[1:16:40] also you uh, Legislator Reagan, that was great work uh executed by the Sheriff's

[1:16:44] Department. Great job. Um I did just want to say relative to to item 6C, I

[1:16:49] wanted to kind of commend us all as a legislature. Um in my short time here

[1:16:53] and in the years that I've been following it, this was one of the first

[1:16:58] times I saw kind of a uh I guess we'll call it a controversial issue and

[1:17:04] and a consequential issue that we all kind of came together despite

[1:17:07] um some outside forces pushing back. Uh I

[1:17:11] think we did good work. We we It was bipartisan work and and we did something

[1:17:14] that I think is going to have real lasting and meaningful effect uh for the

[1:17:18] public. So, I just wanted to kind of pat us all on the back for that.

[1:17:22] » Thank you. Thank you. Legislator Russo.

[1:17:25] » Thank you. Um

[1:17:28] I just want to say, you know, suicide awareness month, anybody can call 988.

[1:17:36] Didn't sound right. Um

[1:17:39] and reach out cuz people do care. Um

[1:17:44] And then it's it's sad. I can't believe it's 25 years

[1:17:50] of 9/11. I remember where I was um and I know

[1:17:55] many people that were lost that day and are losing their lives since.

[1:18:01] So, I want everybody to remember and never forget.

[1:18:06] Um and [clears throat] there are plenty of um events that day to come.

[1:18:13] Remember, you know, remember everybody who was lost and

[1:18:20] never forget. >> Thank you.

[1:18:25] Legislator Gouldman. >> Thank you, Chairman.

[1:18:27] Um schools of course Putnam County are heading back to school. I would like to

[1:18:32] remind drivers to be especially vigilant uh for

[1:18:36] uh pedestrians uh before and after school hours.

[1:18:40] Throughout the last decade, nearly one in four child pedestrian fatalities

[1:18:45] occurred between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. So, please drive safely. I

[1:18:51] would also like to wish all the kids going back to school have a wonderful

[1:18:55] year. Um, do well, study, meet new friends,

[1:18:59] and have a great year. Also, uh

[1:19:03] just in a few days, we're going to be celebrating, not celebrating, we're

[1:19:07] going to be honoring 25 years since 9/11.

[1:19:11] I'm sure everyone in this room remembers,

[1:19:14] uh, when that occurred. I remember I was, and uh, I'll never

[1:19:19] forget that till I till I pass. Um, at that time in my life, I was

[1:19:25] actually a board member of the local Red Cross in the city, and um

[1:19:31] I tried to go down to the pit to help, but they weren't allowing

[1:19:36] basically non-police officers and firemen to go down there. So, I didn't

[1:19:40] get that opportunity to do that. But, uh, please remember

[1:19:45] that day, and uh I always will.

[1:19:49] Saturday, September 19th, is Putnam Valley Town Day. It will be held in the

[1:19:55] Putnam Valley Town Park, 156 Oscawana Lake Road, from the hours of 2:00 till

[1:20:01] 9:00 till 10:00, whenever it's over. It's a great community event, please

[1:20:05] stop by. That's it. Thank you.

[1:20:08] » Thank you. Any other comments?

[1:20:10] » I do have a comment because I I this is the focus tonight has been on suicide

[1:20:14] prevention. I I I guess I want to give an update, and it's a unfortunate

[1:20:19] update. Um, you'll recall our conversation around the funding for

[1:20:24] mental health resources, and um, me attempting to at least keep one of our

[1:20:29] resources open, but unfortunately because of misunderstandings and um

[1:20:35] incorrect comments made at that meeting um and not understanding elected

[1:20:41] officials not understanding the laws in their own towns and the Padavan laws um

[1:20:47] the Rose House is closing and there's surmounting pressure on them to close um

[1:20:53] and I did a lot of work on that. I I you know, some of the issues apparently were

[1:20:57] code violations and I I don't know that ambulance calls are

[1:21:02] a code violation, but that's one of the reasons is the number of calls and I you

[1:21:07] know, on me I I collected the data and the number of calls to to that area is

[1:21:13] no different than the number of calls to my neighborhood. In fact, my

[1:21:16] neighborhood there are more calls um emergency calls, sheriff's calls. I live

[1:21:21] in a crazy neighborhood, but anyway >> [laughter]

[1:21:25] » So yeah, I'm I'm I'm not I obviously I can't let it go and it's a sore subject

[1:21:30] and I'm it's really unfortunate especially since we're talking about

[1:21:34] suicide prevention and here we have this one resource that had no problem for 10

[1:21:39] years, but because of comments made at one meeting, then we have problems. So

[1:21:44] I'm upset and I'm able to say these things. I have to just um

[1:21:48] end it not being so angry about that and I'm

[1:21:51] able to say these things because I stand on the shoulder of giants and we lost

[1:21:57] one giant in Philipstown um 103-year-old

[1:22:02] Elizabeth Todd Healey who was a lifelong resident and one of my mentors.

[1:22:08] Um she passed away at her home on August 15th. Her involvement in the local

[1:22:12] community is legendary. Her dedication to family and to community service was a

[1:22:17] driving force in her life and she was a great example. She was an inspiration to

[1:22:22] me and to the world around her including her family and her graciousness is a

[1:22:27] wonderful example of kindness to her fellow humans.

[1:22:32] Thank you. Well, she'll be greatly missed.

[1:22:34] » Thank you. Any other comment?

[1:22:37] Uh along those lines, um since our last meeting, we lost a uh former colleague

[1:22:43] of ours uh from District 2, Billy Lee Crowder. Uh he served as a county

[1:22:47] legislator from Putnam Valley from 1982 to 1983.

[1:22:51] Uh died uh within the last month at the age of 92.

[1:22:56] Uh he served honorably not only on this legislature, but also in various town

[1:23:00] commissions and committees. And uh with that, what I'd like to do is uh make a

[1:23:04] motion to end this meeting in his memory. Do I have a second?

[1:23:08] » Second. >> All in favor?

[1:23:09] » Aye. >> Aye.

Putnam County Legislative Meeting 9-1-2026

Transcript