Family council praises staffing changes at Sunset Lake as legislature authorizes elevator repairs; members debate nursing‑home finances and LDC deed transfer

Lou Setrin, president of the Family Council at the Care Center at Sunset Lake, addressed the Sullivan County Executive Committee to thank lawmakers for recent leadership and staffing changes at Sunset Lake and to express support for a contract to refurbish elevators at the care center and at the county government center.

“Principal among them, the hiring of county employees to fill the positions of administrator, Director of Nursing, Assistant Director of Nursing, [and] Staff Development Officer,” Setrin told the committee, saying residents and families had noticed “positive changes” at the facility. He also said family members avoid one elevator at Sunset Lake because it was “more prone to breakdown.”

Setrin criticized a prior consulting arrangement and said the consulting agency remains “in arrears to this county in excess of $8,000,000,” adding, “$8,000,000 will pay for a lot of elevator repairs, dishwasher leases, repairs to pot washers, and other equipment that needs to be upgraded at the facility.”

Later in the meeting, county staff provided an update and sought authority to contract with Taconic Elevator Company to refurbish elevators. Kristen (county staff) said elevator funds are planned in the county’s 2026 intended budget but the county moved the resolution forward to allow time for contract execution, bonding and procurement so the project could proceed in a timely manner.

Legislators debated how to show unbudgeted items on meeting agendas and whether to call out single non‑budgeted projects during budget season. One legislator said the nursing home would cost taxpayers more than $5,000,000 this year, and urged that future budgets account for facility expenses transparently rather than treating them as exceptional one‑offs.

Separately, staff reported on the Sunset Lake Local Development Corporation (LDC). Shannon confirmed the public record shows the deed for the facility was transferred from the LDC to the county and that an application for dissolution of the LDC had been submitted to the state attorney general for approval; the county must await the attorney general’s action.

The committee approved the elevator contract resolution by voice vote. Committee members and family‑council representatives said they appreciated county Department of Public Works staff work to maintain operations while repairs and governance issues proceed.

Context: Public comments and the subsequent resolution linked care‑center operations, county staffing decisions, capital repairs and the legal process to dissolve the LDC that formerly held the deed. The transcript records both public praise for staffing changes and ongoing fiscal concerns about the facility’s funding and historic contracts.