County to examine ethics

Targeting conflicts of interest

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — Lawmaker Dave Sager said there are too many conflicts of interest at all levels of Sullivan County government, and he wants the county code of ethics to be updated.

He put this in the form of a resolution, which was presented to his fellow lawmakers at the government center on July 3.

The move comes in the wake of a conflict with legislative aide Alexis Eggleton. In early May, Sager filed an ethics complaint against Eggleton for allegedly “spying” on him, and passing information about his actions on to county manager David Fanslau.

Two weeks later, a panel made up of two Democratic legislators, Ron Hiatt and Frank Armstrong, and one Republican legislator, Alan Sorensen, dismissed the charges because they were deemed to have no merit. It was not disclosed if any of the three lawmakers voted to go forward to investigate the complaint.

At the July 3 meeting, several lawmakers voiced displeasure with the current procedure for handling this type of complaint.

Lawmaker Leni Binder said, “The current system is outdated.” She said that when there is a complaint that involves the legislature, legislators should be removed from the process of handling the complaint.

Legislator Frank Armstrong said he, too, “found the process lacking.”

Lawmakers voted to pass the resolution that requires that the five-member board of ethics study the code of ethics, which was adopted in 1998, and update it.

Sager said the resolution was intended to deal with more than the issue involving him and Eggleton. He said it was to set broad guidelines for ethical behavior in county government.

The vote came two weeks after lawmakers rejected a related resolution that would have prohibited Eggleton and some 126 other confidential county employees from holding office in local political parties or joining in local political committees.

Eggleton is active in the Democratic Party; Sager is a Republican.

In that resolution, Sager wrote, it is essential that “the Sullivan County manager and the nine-person legislative body be able to trust confidential employees without question of political motivations or ulterior intents.”

The legislature voted four to four along party lines, and the resolution was defeated. Democrat Elwin Wood was absent from the meeting, which was held at the government center in Monticello on June 19.