Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone.

On Wednesday, the Chautauqua County Legislature was expected to vote on a motion supporting Sheriff James Quattrone saying the state’s executive order limiting non-essential private gatherings is unenforceable.

At the last minute, the legislature didn’t vote on on the measure. The pulling of the motion was at the request of the sheriff.

The motion had been introduced by county legislator Terry Niebel. He wanted the full legislature say that Gov. Andrew Cuomo should reconsider his 10-permit limit for non-essential private gatherings, adding that Quattrone has called the executive order “unenforceable.” At the start of the meeting, it was announced Niebel had pulled the motion, so no discussion took place among county lawmakers.

Thursday, Quattrone addressed the situation in a news release.

“It is much appreciated that Mr. Niebel took the effort to prepare the motion and wanted the legislature to support my stance on the constitutionality of enforcing executive orders at a private residence. The motion was pulled, in part at my request, as I did not want the public to believe I was endorsing large gatherings. The health and safety of our county residents is what is critical at this time,” he said.

Quattrone noted many county departments continue to work tirelessly to stop the spread of COVID-19. “Along with the Health Department, several other agencies, such as County Emergency Services and the County Sheriff’s Office, continue to work in close cooperation with them. All with the same goal in mind: stop or slow the spread of COVID-19 infections and keep our community safe. A secondary goal of all the work being done is to keep our schools, businesses, and vital services from being put back on ‘Pause’ order from New York state,” he said.

Quattrone said it is “extremely important” that residents continue to do their best to follow guidelines set forth by the CDC and the New York State Health Department. “With the increase in the number of COVID cases, we cannot become complacent. I will continue to encourage individuals to avoid large gatherings and do their best to limit their exposure to others without practicing social distancing and wearing proper face coverings. We can continue to protect our rights but must remember that with every right we have a responsibility to respect others’ rights. As we work together and make some sacrifices, we have a much better chance of keeping our community healthy. We would like to see everyone enjoy this holiday season and many more to follow,” he said.

Christine Schuyler, county Public Health director, agreed. “We understand that people are tired, but public health measures are not the enemy — they are the roadmap for a faster and more sustainable recovery. We all have a personal responsibility to slow the spread of the pandemic and eliminate the virus as quickly as possible. Therefore, it’s imperative that we take an effective, fact-based approach by doing things like limiting the size of gatherings, wearing masks, social distancing and washing our hands. We’re on a way to distributing a vaccine but we need to stay focused,” she said.