Ulster County Legislature defeats proposal to require legislators to publish contact numbers, 3‑3

A proposed policy to require Ulster County legislators to provide a phone number accessible to the public — or to use a county information‑services (IS)‑provided phone line or voicemail — failed on a 3‑3 vote after discussion about privacy, necessity and whether the change required a local law.

The resolution, sponsored by Legislator McCullough (Resolution No. 709 of 02/2024), had been postponed previously. During the meeting county staff and sponsors told the Legislature the county information‑services department can set up a designated phone line or voicemail so legislators would not have to publish personal mobile numbers and that doing so would not incur a cost to the county.

Legislator Lindsey Gutierrez opposed advancing the measure on the grounds that it would be unnecessary if the IS department could provide the service without a law. “This is, again, another law that that has no teeth,” Gutierrez said, arguing the county could implement the change administratively. Legislator Levine urged colleagues to adopt the resolution as written, saying the option would increase public access and that having the policy could encourage more legislators to use the county‑provided service: “I would encourage people to just go ahead and pass it as it’s presented.”

A motion to adopt the resolution received a second but the final recorded vote in the transcript was three in favor and three opposed, and the resolution failed.

The transcript shows discussion about possible clarifying language to explicitly state that the IS phone number or voicemail would satisfy the requirement; some legislators favored adding that language, while others thought the current first paragraph of the resolution covered the option. No enforcement mechanism or penalties were added in debate. The item will remain unresolved unless reintroduced or modified for a future session.