Referred to: The Health, Human Services and Housing Committee (Chairman Uchitelle and Legislators Collins, Corcoran, Harmon, Kitchen, Lopez, and McCollough)

Legislator Jason Kovacs and Legislators Corcoran, Hansut, Kitchen, Roberts, and Walls offer the following:

WHEREAS, Ulster County's Compliance Program was established in or about 2012 in order to coordinate efforts across all County units, departments and divisions to accomplish the important goal of creating an environment that fights fraud, waste and abuse throughout County Government; and

WHEREAS, another fundamental goal of a Compliance Program is to assist an organization, such as Ulster County, in adhering to laws, rules, regulations, standards, or ethical codes that might apply to a service or a transaction, and the Compliance Program should also encompass internal protocols and practices as well as federal and state statutes to be effective; and

WHEREAS, Ulster County’s Compliance Program is overseen by a Compliance Officer who works with a Compliance Committee, which is composed of representatives from a range of County Government departments who are appointed to the Committee by the County Executive; Together, the Compliance Officer and the Compliance Committee are charged with ensuring the Compliance Program is effective and achieves its goals; and

WHEREAS, in addition to this internal structure, Ulster County has contracted with Bonadio & Co., LLP since the inception of the program in 2012 and under the current contract since 2018 to operate the Corporate Compliance Hotline and advise the County, and a Bonadio staff member also serves on the Corporate Compliance Committee in an advisory capacity; and

WHEREAS,in or about August of 2024, the Ulster County Comptroller released an audit of the Ulster County Compliance Program that included several recommendations, one of which pertained to the composition of the membership of the Compliance Committee; and

WHEREAS, the Comptroller found that the functionality and effectiveness of the Committee could be enhanced by modifying the existing composition of the Committee to include a member of the Ulster County Legislature and a member of the office of the Ulster County Comptroller, as the Comptroller determined that inclusion of these additional members would bring further and diverse expertise to  the  Compliance Committee in  evaluating  potential compliance risks  and would likewise bring  another perspective when implementing corrective actions to address any such risks; and

WHEREAS, the Ulster County Legislature concurs with the recommendations of the Comptroller regarding the composition of the Compliance Committee; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Ulster County Legislature strongly urges the Ulster County Executive to implement the said recommendation of the Ulster County Comptroller and to revise the Ulster County Compliance Plan to provide that membership on the Compliance Committee shall include at least one (1) elected member of the Ulster County Legislature, or their designee, and at least one (1) member of the Ulster County Comptroller’s office, or its designee; and, be it further

RESOLVED, the Clerk of the Ulster County Legislature shall forward copies

of this resolution to the Ulster County Executive, the Ulster County Comptroller, the Ulster County Compliance Officer and Bonadio & Co., LLP,      

and moves its adoption.

ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:

AYES:                       NOES:             

Passed Committee: Health, Human Services and Housing on ________________.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

NONE