READ RESIGNATION LETTER
MATHES, WHO
REVITALIZED
IDA, LEAVING
3rd Resignation Creates
Crisis For Otsego Now
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.allotsego.com
ONEONTA – The coup is complete.
Sandy Mathes, who revolutionized economic development in Otsego County in the past three years, has given the 90-day notice required by his contract, and will be departing as CEO of the Otsego Now organization he created by summer’s end.
As if to punctuate the end of an era, Bob Hanft of Pierstown, who chaired what was then the county IDA when Mathes was brought aboard in January 2014, and veteran board member Jim Salisbury of Otego, announced at today's board meeting they are leaving the Otsego Now board.
Hanft, the retired J.P. Morgan managing director, was typically diplomatic, thanking his colleagues for “a great seven years,” and adding, “We always said this thing is a marathon, and it is.”
But Salisbury, a retired banker, was blunt. “I’m done with this organization. ’Bye.” And he walked out.
New board member Cheryl Robinson, who chaired the board’s recently formed Reorganization Committee that proposed replacing Mathes with a full-time executive, moved to abolish the committee, which is "at the end of its charter," she said.