Republican Tim Burtis was elected chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature during its first meeting of the year Tuesday.
Burtis, in his fourth full term of office, was elected chairman by an 11 to 6 vote over Democratic nominee Chris Ryan. The votes fell among party lines. Ryan and legislator Brian May were reelected to their respective floor leader positions.
May nominated Burtis for chairman.
"The chair sets and prioritizes our agenda," May said. "This is very, very important and protects our authority as defined by the County Charter and ensures good legislative process for all of us. Outside of these chambers, the chair is the face, the voice, the leader of this body, Tim Burtis, will do all of these things well."
"He has been a stalwart member of this legislature for several years now," May continued. "He is virtuous. He is exceedingly fair. And he stands by his beliefs. And most importantly, he stands by every vote he's ever made."
Burtis spoke briefly as he took the chairman's seat.
"Thank you I appreciate that," Burtis said. "And look forward to a good time together and we will need to work at it together."
Minority Leader Ryan said they're ready to get to work.
"We want to get to work to make sure that a lot of the $30 million with the seniors and the housing, a lot of our projects start moving forward," Ryan said. "We need some oversight on those for the beginning. And then we plan on working together. I mean, obviously, our plan is always as we start this new venture for the next 24 months, the expectation is to work together in collaboration and that's what we want to do."
