It's Saturday morning and Mamakating town supervisor Bill Herrmann has been in his office for hours already working on a town financial report. He explained that both he and his wife Cathy Owens — who, in her first election, won a seat on the Sullivan County legislature last November — are not professional politicians.

"We have jobs," said Herrmann. "When we decided to run for office, we never considered it as a career. So when we don't do this anymore we'll still have our jobs."

But in the meantime, there is a cost involved: "You give up your personal life and your sleep."

Owens concurred with her husband, adding that when her mother died last week, it was driven home to her just how little time she had to spend with her family.

So why did Herrmann and Owens take on such daunting responsibilities, including Herrmann's announcement last week that he would be next challenging John Bonacic for his state senate seat in November?

"Someone had to come forward because of all the alleged corruption and fraud," said Owens. "We're the ones who did it."

"Why am I doing this?" added Herrmann. "Because it's the right thing to do. I have a specific skill set to be able to make a difference."

Herrmann began his term in January 2014 along with two supporting councilmembers, Brenda Giraldi and Matt Taylor.

"When we took office," he said, "we began to do some good stuff on the local level, but then we realized that the county also needed to hear our voice. So Cathy stepped up to the plate. Now the corruption in Albany is unquestioned, so I'm stepping up, too."

He says his and Cathy's main motivation remains the same: to clean up the corruption and the closed-door deals that too often seem to taint politics on all levels.

When asked what impact it would have on Mamakating if he were elected to the state senate and had to leave his position as town supervisor in mid-term, Herrmann replied, "We've got a good plan in operation here. If I leave at the end of the year the momentum will carry the agenda through for the town. There are good people here, and a well-running organization."

Some people think that Owens and her husband have an antagonistic relationship because she is a Republican and he a Democrat, but both explained that this was not the case.

"We're issue-oriented and we agree on the issues," explained Owens.

"We set out with a shared agenda for ethics, transparency, and fiscal responsibility in government," said her husband.

Both voiced their agreement on issues concerning fair housing and voter fraud. On issues like these, added Owens, "We win in local courts by judges who live here, but we lose on the appellate level from judges who don't."

As a county legislator, Owens is concerned about the NYS Constitutional Convention that comes up every twenty years, and may soon come up again. In the November 2016 election, voters will be asked if they want the convention to be held. It would call for about 200 delegates representing every county in the state. Governor Cuomo has asked that these delegates be regular citizens and not politicians.

"The New York State constitution is a very old document, and has very good things in it that we want to preserve," explained Owens. However, she also identified new problems that need to be addressed. Among these are term limits; proposed loss of pension for politicians who break the law; the large numbers of properties currently off the tax rolls; state imposed unfunded mandates that counties and school districts must pay for; counties having no say over how taxes that they collect for state programs are spent; and the need to clarify voter registration requirements.

For example, Owens points out how, according to recent figures, the state required that Sullivan County collect $20.8 million in taxes for Medicaid and welfare. This money is sent to Albany where the decision is made as to how and where this money is spent.

"We're not complaining about people getting welfare," said Herrmann, who then explained that under the present system there's no reward to the county for helping people to go off of welfare. In 2015, he added, the county could spend less than 20 percent of tax revenues for its own purposes. Nearly 40 percent was for NYS Medicaid, 9.5 percent went to NYS welfare, and 31.2 percent paid for NYS unfunded mandates.

Commenting on the recent case brought by ten voters against the county board of elections, Owens said that the legislature was asked to vote on the county's expenditure of money for the settlement in the case even before the terms of that settlement were finalized. She was the only one to vote against it. In the end, the county is liable for $575,000 to cover the plaintiffs' lawyers' fees, and to recompense the plaintiffs for their inconvenience. Although the county's legal insurance will cover these costs, Owens said, "I disagree with the terms on which we settled. I was elected to fight this and I did."

Another issue raised by this case is what the couple sees as a liberal interpretation of voter residency requirements. It could seem like a person's statement of intent to move into a locality is enough to qualify him to vote in local elections there. If this interpretation is true, they say it would set a bad precedent, and highlights a need to clarify residency requirements for future elections.