Orange County Legislature Rejects Moving Meetings to After-Work Hours

The Orange County Government Center in Goshen, N.Y., on Oct. 22, 2022. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The Orange County Legislature on Jan. 4 rejected a proposal to move two whole-body meetings to after-work hours and passed a year-long schedule of afternoon meetings.

The County Legislature hasn’t hosted evening meetings for two years.

Minority Leader Mike Paduch proposed to add two 7 p.m. meetings at the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting, saying the change would make it easier for working citizens to participate.

Mr. Paduch and the County Legislature Democratic caucus had advocated for years for more after-hour meetings, whose numbers ebbed and flowed before dropping to zero in 2020.

That year, the County Legislature got rid of night meetings for reasons including low public attendance, staff overtime costs, unavailabilities of department heads, and the need to allow legislators to attend evening town or village meetings in their districts, according to the meeting records.

In 2021, one evening meeting was restored as a bipartisan gesture before it was ditched again the next year.

“In the past, we’ve run some night meetings, and it has not improved the attendance of the audience,” Majority Leader Tom Faggione told The Epoch Times. “It is the agenda that brings people to the meetings—if there is a topic of importance in your community, your local community representatives and citizens will come whether those meetings are held in the afternoons or evenings.”

All County Legislature meetings are broadcast live on YouTube, and recordings are posted online immediately afterward. The public can also read minutes of old meetings on the county website.

While acknowledging that it’s the topics that drive participation, Democratic legislator Kevindaryán Luján said concerned residents would turn out in even greater numbers at after-hour meetings.

He also told The Epoch Times that more night meetings would make it easier for people with nine-to-five jobs to serve in the County Legislature.

“I agree with the value of night meetings,” Michael Amo, the sole independent in the 21-member County Legislature, said at the Jan. 4 meeting. “But I think we also have got to remember our job as a legislator is to reach out and bring the issues from people to the legislature.”

Mike Anagnostakis, who has no formal party affiliation, was the only legislator who joined the Democratic caucus in voting for the night meeting proposal, which was defeated by a 14–5 vote.

Bonelli Reelected Chairwoman

At the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting, Katherine Bonelli was unanimously reelected as chairwoman of the County Legislature for 2024.

Ms. Bonelli reviewed the past and ongoing work by the County Legislature under her helm, highlighting the investigations into and revamping of the Orange County Industrial Development Agency, the progress in the sewer expansion plan in the southern part of the county, the ongoing remapping of 21 county legislative districts, the current review of proposals to revitalize the Valley View nursing home campus, and the upcoming legislative committee report of the recent IT contract controversy.

A Blooming Grove Republican, Ms. Bonelli was first elected to the County Legislature in 2010 and became the majority leader in 2018 before advancing to the chairwoman seat following the resignation of former Chairman Stephen Brescia.