Church will lead Yates County Legislature

YATES COUNTY--For the first time in its 50 year history, the Yates County Legislature will have a woman serving as chairperson after Legislator Leslie Church was elected to the position during a special meeting on Jan. 3. Church replaces previous chair, Douglas Paddock. Upon her election, those in attendance broke out into applause.
"I'm honored by the opportunity and the trust that the legislature has put in me and we have a lot of interesting projects going on right now that I am looking forward to working on," Church said after the meeting.
Among those priorities will be the continuation of the county-wide efforts to expand high-speed internet access to residents and businesses.
"I want to continue that and maybe accelerate it... that is one of my main goals along with building a consensus with the other legislators on the many issues that face us," Church said.
Along with looking forward, Church also took time to appreciate the work Paddock had put in during his time as chair.
"I thank Doug Paddock for his service to Yates County for so many years as chair," said Church.
A major project currently in the works that Church specifically mentioned she wanted to continue was the efforts to modernize the county's emergency management services communication capacities.
"The public safety communications project, Douglas Paddock was instrumental in that, that project is exciting," Church added.
Other projects Church said she looks forward to working on include work on the county highways, public health and an emergency management facility.
The election for vice-chair was also initially contested as Rick Willson and Ed Bronson split the vote equally before Willson volunteered to withdraw his name from consideration.
"I was going to do that," Bronson said to laughter.
As a result of Willson managing to withdraw his name first, Bronson was voted unanimously.
With Church now serving as legislative chair, Yates County has the top administrative positions filled by women, with Nonie Flynn serving as county administrator, Lois Hall as county clerk and Marsha Devine as county treasurer.