Bellone's first day symbolic, substantive

Steve Bellone, appearing Tuesday morning for his first business day of work as Suffolk County executive, quickly made his first change of the day: He pulled down the tattered American and POW/MIA flags outside the county office building in Hauppauge, and replaced them with fresh ones.

"The American flag couldn't be tattered," he said to a Parks Department worker as the wind blew briskly. "If we have to switch it every day, we will."

Bellone then climbed the steps to the lobby of the H. Lee Dennison Building, where he greeted county employees and got enthusiastic handshakes in return.

Several hours later, Bellone addressed the full county legislature and got a standing ovation.

Wearing a black pinstriped suit, and a red, white and blue tie, Bellone split his first working day between the symbolic and the substantive.

He began with the flag replacement at 8:30 a.m., and shortly after 1 p.m. announced the appointment of a bipartisan task force to examine government operations.

In between, he met with senior staff and sat down with the legislature's Democratic and Republican caucuses. Late in the afternoon, Bellone returned to his old offices in Babylon for the swearing-in of his successor as town supervisor, Democrat Richard Schaffer.

Settling into his new quarters in Hauppauge after moving his desk for a better view out the window would wait.

Tuesday morning, the only personal items on display in his 12th-floor office were a framed newspaper cover from his election in November, and construction paper drawings from each of his daughters, Katie, 3, and Mollie, 2. The decal on his office's glass doors still read, "Steve Levy, County Executive."