(**News alert)County Legislature Chairman hospitalized; won't be on hand for County Home Vote...
There's been an interesting twist that's been thrown into tonight's scheduled vote on selling the Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk. A fourth vote on the proposed sale of the home is on the agenda for tonight's County Legislature meeting in Mayville. However... Legislature Chairman Jay Gould will not be there. Gould has been hospitalized for treatment of burns to his foot... and, will be unable to attend. With that... Legislature Majority Leader David Himelein of French Creek will chair tonight's session. Lawmakers are deciding whether to sell the County Home to VestraCare of Long Island's local company... Dunkirk Holdings... for $16-millon. Late last year... the legislature came up one vote short of selling the home to VestraCare. However... with the smaller Legislature... 13 "yes" votes -- or a two-thirds majority -- is needed to sell the property. It's generally believed there are at 14 "yes" votes, but, that included Gould's vote. Gould says he wanted to be on hand, but, adds he won't be released from the hospital until late this week.