Briggs’ dismissal provokes political divide

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

MONTICELLO, NY — Democratic legislators’ decision to fire Sullivan County Manager Dan Briggs iced the first 5-4 split down party lines among the current board’s major decisions.

Republicans on August 18 condemned the move and questioned the process leading up to Legislature Chairman Chris Cunningham’s resolution to remove Briggs, while Democrats cited overarching county management problems and charged that Briggs did not understand his role in county government.

“Regardless of what Mr. Briggs opinion is about how government ought to work, the duty of the county manager is to effectuate the will of the people, which is evidenced by the majority vote of the legislature. It’s as simple as that,” said Legislator Ron Hiatt. A crowd of about 100 people, mainly made up of Briggs’ supporters, had gathered at the executive committee meeting.

Hiatt said Briggs had ignored legislative decisions by not including money in his budget for the legislature’s approved human rights commission and consumer protection program, and he criticized the county manager for remaining uncritical of his auditing staff even as major errors were revealed in the county’s financial statements, including a $7 million mistake last year and a $400,000 mistake this year.

Cunningham cited “serious managerial issues with county government,” including the county landfill, the current investigation into misuse of public property within the Department of Public Works, last year’s audit and the recent audit findings.

“In all those cases it is management that was the key component and where the overriding concerns have been and continue to be,” Cunningham said.

But then he stressed that private discussions about Briggs’ performance were interrupted by a leak to the press. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, Cunningham said, was Briggs’ “personal and political attacks” on Democrats quoted in the subsequent newspaper articles.

“The remarks included accusations that the Democratic majority was seeking to oust him for political reasons,” Cunningham said. “In identifying himself as a Republican who was being persecuted by the Democrats, Mr. Briggs was effectively identifying himself as simply the wrong person for the position he’s in,” Cunningham said, adding that the county manager’s “is not a political position.”

Republican Legislator Jodi Goodman begged Democrats to reconsider, “and to throw this resolution in the garbage where it belongs.” Goodman said: “If there’s anything that was lacking, it was us lacking the guidance to help Danny in probably the most difficult job that anyone could hold in Sullivan County.”

Legislator Greg Goldstein called the decision “random” and said Briggs deserved the right to know what he did wrong. Legislator Leni Binder called Cunningham to task for not presenting Briggs with a written performance evaluation, which she said the legislature’s charter mandates.

“The charter indicates that the chairperson, with the executive committee, evaluates the county manager and the county attorney annually. The last written report was done by myself as chairperson for the year 2002,” Binder said.

Binder read from a statement she called “the death of open government,” saying, “If we have issues with our managers, there should be open discussion, composite conclusions, and then, only then, the chair should address our concerns with the people in question. Now we are being told to make a decision as if that process had in fact taken place.”

Early this week, Cunningham said he believes the legislators are interested in putting the turmoil behind them.

“I hope this is an aberration. I think people agree it’s time to move on,” he said.

Just before the August 18 vote took place, Briggs struggled to stifle tears as he asked, “How does one summarize better than 20 years in public service?”

He concluded, “Throughout my tenure, I have attempted to keep things in perspective.”

Finally, he said, “I was raised in Sullivan County. I am raising a family in Sullivan County. I believe in Sullivan County, and I will continue to reside in Sullivan County. Thank you for the privilege of serving Sullivan County.”