BREAKING: Stephanie Brown, who was appointed one year ago as the County's Commissioner of Health & Family Services, resigned on Wednesday, according to a government employee source who confirmed the news to The SullivanTimes moments ago.
Brown, a registered nurse, was at the center of an ethics complaint made against Legislator Luis Alvarez last week in which it was alleged by Legislative Chair Rob Doherty in public that Alvarez used the "c" word towards Brown during a heated argument last Fall regarding his wife's medical treatment at The Care Center. Because the Board of Ethics investigations are conducted confidentially, it's unknown if Brown filed the complaint or if it was another County employee.
The SullivanTimes has also learned that Lorne Greene, a member of the ethics board and the chief information officer of the County, has also quietly resigned from that board.
Reached Wednesday by phone at the Government Center, Greene declined comment.
The Sullivan County Democratic Committee late last week issued a statement in defense of Alvarez saying, in part:
"We further call on our citizens to stand up and make your voices heard to your legislators. Let them know that this STINKS of petty political retribution. Let them know that opposition voices will not be silenced by partisan complaints to an Ethics Board that seemingly lacks any degree of independent thought and instead acts as a political weapon of the Legislative Chair. "
Alvarez had recently switched parties from Republican to Democrat after enduring continual attacks from Doherty because Alvarez was outspoken against the sale of The Care Center dating back to July, when the idea first came before the public.
Brown was also at least partly responsible for the hiring of Sherrita Alexander, the former administrator of The Care Center, who resigned abruptly one week after a story in The SullivanTimes revealed that Alexander had not been truthful about her employment background. She had been on the job less than three months.
And, today, it was learned that the County is just now trying to recruit volunteers to help administer Covid-19 vaccines, after the the national media reported in November that vaccines were on the way in December and January.
Legislators Joe Perrello and Ira Steingart earlier today expressed frustration with the delays in getting people in place to help administer those vaccines, but did not place blame on any one individual.