Kelly H. Fitzpatrick earned re-election as County Chair
By Steve Sprague,
With the holidays just concluded, still months of winter ahead, thorny national issues that desperately need solutions and the tedium of daily challenges always looming, you probably would ask what could make Monday, January 5, 2026, a memorably “good day?”
It was a good day because a devoted and authentic “public servant” was returned to the chairmanship of the Steuben County Legislature. Kelly H. Fitzpatrick, the first woman in the County’s more than 200-year history to serve as its leader when she was elected chairman two years ago, was re-elected to that post Monday. This time, unanimously.
By now, I’ve confessed in these columns to spending decades in and around elected “public servants” in Congress and the multiple political offices that govern the country and its communities. I’ve also confessed to being a political “Pollyanna” who still believes there’s a meaningful difference between good and not-so-good elected officials.
When I retired back to Steuben County a few years ago, I met Kelly in her job as an accountant. I found a personable and highly-competent professional who rescued me from some bonehead tax decisions I had made in the move from Virginia back to my hometown.
At that time, she was vice-chair of the Legislature so our conversations naturally turned to that role, as well. I was impressed then. I’m convinced her election as chair of the Legislature in January of 2024 was a surprise, even to her. The new job carried the significant weight of internal political divisions, external forces like diminishing state and federal aid, chronic local flooding and countless small but important problems.
Kelly has resisted the ever-present temptation to wield the kind of “leadership power” we sadly see in so many who ascend to higher office. If anything, it made her even more dedicated to finding solutions. She’s used the office to ambitiously promote the county as a great home for new business and fiercely pursue funding for problems deserving of state and national resources.
Internally, she’s quietly served as the voice of reason and compromise to bring her legislative colleagues to focus on what’s best for the 94,000 residents of the county and most worthy of their taxes. She’s won some of those issues and lost some. But we never saw her boast of a win or campaign to embarrass her opponents for a loss.
I’ll also confess I have a real admiration for most local office-holders. Every member of the Legislature is there of their own choosing. They all have families, hobbies, homes and the universal need to pay the bills. They earn what amounts to a stipend from their elected position. Spread over the miles and hours a dedicated legislator will spend doing the job well, it doesn’t meet minimum wage rules anywhere. Hence the term “public servant,” with an emphasis on “servant.”
While some take on the role to promote their businesses or a personal desire for celebrity or higher office, Kelly has demonstrated she’s there to make things better, not for herself but for the neighbors she was elected to represent.
She and her like-minded colleagues deserve our thanks. They certainly have mine.
Steve Sprague is a Steuben County guy who’s “been to Washington,” and back. He’s served the nation as a combat veteran, Congressional staffer, and TSA supervisor. You can reach him anytime, ssprague@gmail.com
