Public Comment
Sullivan County Legislature
Health and Human Services Committee
Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.
Good Morning.
I’m Martha Scoppa from Liberty and I am a member of the Senior Legislative Action Committee.
I understand there’s a timeframe here and I intended to speak at both meetings, this one and the next one. But one of the reasons I particularly want to speak this meeting has to do with the many times I have spoken in front of this very committee.
It is with a very heavy heart that I attend today’s legislative meetings. Since the County’s Announcement on August 19th of the closure of the Care Center at Sunset Lake, I have been “feeling low” as my grandmother used to describe a time when things were hard to bear.
For six years, I have made Public Comments at Health and Human Services Committee meetings in support of the Care Center at Sunset Lake. Also, during those six years, I made Public Comment at Full Board meetings and Executive meetings. For six years, as I have spoken from this podium, I have watched legislators carry on side conversations, focus on their computers, and leave the room. When I had important information to share, when I asked for budget figures “due to” and “due from,” when I asked pertinent questions about the Consulting Agreement with Infinite Care, when I mentioned residents in trouble, when I asked about repairs, when I questioned the delay in receiving quarterly reconciliations from Infinite Care, when I wondered if the Legislature cared about the residents and staff at the Adult Care Center, there was rarely, rarely, that’s rarely any action taken on the part of the legislature. The same goes for the County Manager and Deputy Manager. My words met deaf ears.
And, it was not just me. Many private citizens spoke regularly at Public Comment at legislative committee meetings and very rarely were any of their topics acted upon. Had the legislature really cared about the Adult Care Center and paid attenti...
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