Public Comment
Sullivan County Legislature
Public Works Committee Meeting
Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 10:30 a.m.
My name is Martha Scoppa.
I am from Liberty and I am a member of the Senior Legislative Action Committee.
Regarding the Adult Care Center at Sunset Lake and the 5-4 vote to close the facility taken by this legislature one week ago at the Special Meeting on October 1st, I have a few thoughts.
Over the years I have watched many legislators and County Management show very little interest in the success of the County’s nursing home. Maybe ‘very little interest’ is not accurate. Maybe it should be that many legislators and County Management have shown no interest. Somehow, I continued to attend legislative meetings, year after year, and continued to speak on behalf of the Adult Care Center and its good for the County - for residents and the people who work there.
The disinterest of many legislators and County Management was hard to bear, but I hoped it would change. I must have had hope because how else would I have come back again and again with information I thought would change minds? Recently a dear friend who lives in another state asked me why I seemed so depressed and I said I was sad about the County’s decision to close its nursing home. My friend said, “Is that still going on?” and the reality of the past six years sunk in. A far away friend might wonder at the length of time, but I lived through those six years and now I see that all along the way, the closing was planned and many minds did not want to change.
I am very disappointed about the closing. Years ago I was very disappointed about the use of ARPA funds, meant to help during COVID with human services, but used to pave roads and to improve heating and cooling at the college. More recently, I have been disappointed about the Gateway homeless shelter grant which was within reach, but stalled, and now limping. What do these things have in common? They all have to do with services to human beings. Clearly, this legislature, the previous legislature, and County Management do not value services to human beings, and the people themselves.
The surprise of the announcement to close and the speed with which the facility has been closing down are proof that human beings don’t really matter to most legislators. The so-called closure plan evidently did not take into consideration that real live human beings would experience anxiety and trauma. Residents were transferred to other facilities far away and family members were adjusting to long drives and reduced visits. Employees were scrambling for jobs. I think this could have been done very differently if value had been placed on the people involved.
I spoke at last week’s Special Meeting about a friend whose husband was very upset by his transfer to a facility in Middletown, went into a decline, and died ten days later. At last week’s meeting, we learned about a man named Victor who also was very upset about being transferred. He died last Saturday in a facility in Kingston. Very sad and, in my mind, very unnecessary.
I remain very disappointed in this legislature and County Management for the closure of the Care Center.
Thank you.
Martha Scoppa