January 11, 2006

BOARD UNANIMOUSLY ELECTS RYAN TO
SECOND TERM AS CHAIR
---Stewart-Cousins Elected Vice Chair---

Bill Ryan (D,I,WF-White Plains) was unanimously re-elected to a second term as Chairman of the Board of Legislators at the Board’s January 9th reorganization meeting that started the new term. The Board also elected County Legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-I-WF, Yonkers) as Vice Chair.

Ryan, a former state assemblyman, lives in White Plains. He was first elected to the County Board’s 5th District’s legislative seat in 1998. He served as Vice Chair prior to his election as Chair in January 2004.

“I’m pleased that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have again placed their confidence in me to lead them into the future,” said Ryan. “My overriding focus when I first became Chair two years ago was to reinvigorate this body’s role as a fully co-equal branch of county government under a system of checks and balances with the

executive branch. We have succeeded in that effort and will continue to build on that success.”

Ryan characterized the past term as both unusual and remarkable. “It started out with some of the most difficult problems the County has ever faced,” Ryan said.

At the start of the past term, the Board was confronted with a state-mandate- induced contingency budget that threatened a slash in services, a courthouse construction project being managed by the state that was out of control and, biggest of all, a medical center, vital to the health and economy of Westchester and the entire mid-Hudson region, on the verge of collapse.

Addressing how the term ended, Ryan said, “we made real progress getting the state to cap Medicaid, avoided the contingency budget, preserved services, maintained the county’s Triple A bond rating, took control of the courthouse project, now running on time and under budget, and brought the medical center back from the brink.”

Ryan noted his initiatives during the past term to reorganize the Board’s staff and implement a merit pay system have increased staff productivity and professionalism. His next order of business is to streamline the Board’s committee structure.

Stewart-Cousins was first elected to represent the 16th District in 1995. She chaired the Board’s Legislation Committee for six years. Most recently, Stewart-Cousins has served as Chair of the Families Committee and has held the position of Majority Whip.

“I am honored that I was chosen the Board’s Vice Chair,” Stewart-Cousins said. “I am looking forward to continuing to serve the people of this wonderful county and, through this leadership position, facilitating the Board’s work in whatever way I can.”

In other action, Perry M. Ochacher was re-elected to another term as the Board’s Clerk.