Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan Fri, Jan. 29, announced the county is on track to receive nearly $1.6 million in state funds that previously went unclaimed and needed to cover the expenses incurred by the Public Defender's Office. In a press release, Ryan said a measure to approve a contract accepting more than $16,000 in state funds will go before the full Legislature for approval in February. Ryan said that with the acceptance of that additional funding the amount recouped will total $1,584,022. The recouped funds covered expenses such as "rent, supplies, staff salaries, and technological investments that occurred during 2014 to 2019." Ryan said a year ago that a multi-year financial analysis of the PD’s office revealed the county had missed out on nearly $2.5 million in state aid, including $1.9 million that would have covered money advanced by the county. Ryan blamed former Public Defender Andrew Kossover, who Ryan said "repeatedly and inexplicably failed to submit routine and required paperwork to the state Office of Indigent Legal Services to receive ... funding." At the time, Ryan called the failure to do so a "fundamental failure of leadership within and oversight of the Public Defender's Office." As a result of the discovery, Ryan said then PD Kossover resigned from the office, but Kossover insisted Ryan had fired him. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.