Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman Ulster County Legislator Tracey Bartels was elected chairwoman of the county Legislature Jan. 7. The vote of 12 to 11 was along party lines, with all 11 Republicans casting their votes for now former chairman Ken Ronk of Walkill. Bartels, of Gardiner, is unaffiliated, but has aligned herself with the Democrats. She is only the second woman to lead the Legislature and the first person to hold the job without being enrolled in a political party. In accepting the chair, Bartels said she was “honored” to be elected to the post; she vowed to work with everyone to move the Legislature through what she said is “certainly going to be a year of transition.” Bartels' election took place just a few hours after Ronk told the Daily Freeman he was thinking about running for Ulster County executive. The current executive, Democrat Michael Hein, is leaving to take a job in the Cuomo administration. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.