George Latimer: Bring State of County back to legislature

Changing the location of the annual speech in 2012 bothered some lawmakers.

Mark Lungariello
Rockland/Westchester Journal News

WHITE PLAINS – Westchester County Executive George Latimer said he’ll bring the “State of the County” speech back to county legislative chambers for the first time since 2011.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer pictured during a press conference at his office on Jan. 10, 2018. Latimer wants to deliver his first State of the County address in the Board of Legislators' chambers.

Latimer, a Democrat, said in a Facebook post that holding it in the chambers where the county’s 17 lawmakers hold their meetings is “out of respect for two separate and co-equal branches of government.”

No date has been set for the speech, but in recent years it’s been held in April. County law says that at least once a year, the executive should deliver a general statement on the affairs of the county.

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This year’s speech will be the first for Latimer, who took office Jan. 1.

Latimer’s predecessor, Republican Rob Astorino, moved the “State of the County” in 2012 to a larger space with more seating in the Richard A. Daronco Courthouse on Martin Luther King Boulevard, where he ran a slideshow while he spoke. That ground-floor space is on Martin Luther King Boulevard, down the street from the Michaelian Office Building on Martine Avenue.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino delivers his State of the County Address at the Westchester County Courthouse on April 20, 2017.

The eighth floor of the Michaelian, the main building for county government, is where legislators have their offices and hold meetings.

That move out of the legislative chambers bothered some Democrats, who painted it as devaluing the role of lawmakers. Former Legislator Ken Jenkins asked to bring it back to legislative chambers several times. Jenkins now serves as deputy county executive under Latimer.

The president's "State of the Union" speech is delivered to joint sessions of Congress, but the governor's "State of the State" isn't delivered in the state legislative chambers.

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