Oswego County Legislature Chair James Weatherup delivered his state of the county address at Thursday's meeting of the county Legislature, highlighting county’s successes and things that need work.

One thing he said needs improvement is the county’s Department of Social Services, which has been under fire for its handling of the death of 17-year-old Jordan Brooks.

Brooks died last May after allegedly suffering severe neglect at the hands of his mother and stepfather, who now face charges, including criminally negligent homicide.

“Our county is on solid financial footing, and later this year, will once again be debt free,” Weatherup said in his address.

He touched on the counties highs, from fiscal successes to resiliency, during the second year of the pandemic.

“Our business community has shown strength throughout, and not only survived, but thrived in the face of adversity,” he said.

But Weatherup said the state of the county could not be fully told without addressing what he called the darkest moment for the county this year — the death of Brooks.

“We must examine what happened and make Oswego County a safer place for our children,” he said.

A resolution was passed at the meeting adjusting staffing in DSS’s legal department, highlighting what Weatherup acknowledged are continued challenges for the department, brought into the spotlight by Brooks’ death.

It was something public speakers at the meeting were not shy about.

“We have to do something to make that job appealing enough to make people deal with the horrors that they see every day,” one speaker said.

Another speaker identified herself as a DSS employee.

“We are caring individuals, and we know we make a difference,” she said.

She came to the podium with a message for a legislature, which has spent much of the first part of this year discussing challenges at DSS.

“I would like to challenge you, our legislators, to shadow us for a day, better yet, a week, and see the amount of knowledge we have and the limitations we must work under, the staffing shortage, inadequate services and lack of safe and affordable housing,” the employee said.

Weatherup said after the meeting that the investigations the county approved to investigate DSS and the death of Jordan Brooks will be the deciding factor in determining what changes need to be made to the department.

“We’re working as hard as we can, as fast as we can, within those parameters of law to investigate this and make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

He also addressed concerns expressed by speakers that the county appointing of firms to investigate on its own won’t result in a truly independent investigation.

“There’s no protections for anyone. We’re going to take this investigation wherever it goes,” he said.

In response to continued calls from speakers at the meeting for the resignation of DSS Commissioner Stacy Alvord, he said that, too, is something that will not be determined until after the investigations are complete.

Last month, the legislature approved two separate outside investigations into DSS, one focusing primarily on the death of Brooks and another looking into the department itself.