Oneonta Mayor Gives City, Staff High Marks for Progress Made Over Last Three Years

By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA

Mayor Mark Drnek delivered his “State of the City” address to nearly 100 people gathered at the Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center in Oneonta on Tuesday, February 18. “The state of our city is strong,” he said.

He pointed out that “we pay less in debt service than most cities, and our fund balance is stronger than any of the nearly two-dozen small upstate cities we surveyed.”

“Everywhere you look, if you look for it, you will see progress being made,” Drnek said. “We had more demolition and construction than we’ve had in many years, some of it long-planned. Some not.”

Mayor Drnek reviewed key accomplishments during his time in office.

“This will be my final State of the City address,” Drnek announced.

He will complete his four-year term in the next 10 months and will not be seeking reelection in November.

Key Accomplishments

This year the city added four police officers to the Oneonta Police Department. Drnek acknowledged that “this year’s budget was a monster to tame…but I am so happy that we were able to fund three additional police officers.”

The State Department of Criminal Justice Services Accreditation Council awarded the Police Department re-accreditation for the next five years based on its inspection.

The Department of Public Works made significant upgrades to its infrastructure with improvements to Oneonta’s Water Treatment Plant, Wastewater Treatment Plant and Water Distribution System “thanks to our identification of grants.” The mayor praised Chris Yacobucci, director of public works, and his crew.

Drnek also highlighted the City of Oneonta as being first in line for grants with state agencies, which he said leads to “significant savings of taxpayer money.”

The exterior of the Transit Hub and Sidney Federal Credit Union on Market Street will be finished in a few more months, Drnek pointed out.

He also praised Springbrook as an ideal partner and a change agent. He reminded the crowd that “the long dormant Ford Block, with its perpetually empty upper floors, is now a beautifully-realized apartment building.”

Other high points during his tenure praised by Drnek:

Hartwick College opened its Baking Innovation Center and SUNY Oneonta opened its ExCL Center, both on Dietz Street.

Local churches are making their parking lots available for reserved parking. The city will add another hundred parking spots and elevators to Main and Water streets by early summer.

Cooperstown All Star Village brings thousands of patrons to the city every summer for baseball camps. Teams have grown under the leadership of Rick Abbot.

Muller Plaza, supervised by the staff of FOR-DO, Club Odyssey and the Teen Center, greeted nearly 7,600 people over a 14-week summer period.

Cynthia Marsh, founder of Oneonta’s drum circle, provided free entertainment on Mueller Plaza and the farmers’ market returned to Oneonta’s downtown for the summer months.

PrideFest was well attended and Liz Wilde and the Oneonta Storefront Project helped put art in the windows.

More than two dozen original pieces of digital art were created by Oneonta High School students and now beautify the waste bins on Main Street.

Dozens of merchants have creatively painted photo cut-out boards on their sidewalks.

New Relationships

The Utica Center for Development will be renting two offices in the Armory building and bringing a robust assembly of veteran’s services here.

Jen Reynolds and her staff opened the warming station for the growing homeless population.

Catholic Charities of Chenango’s SOS program helped Oneonta with case-managed support and even relocation assistance for the homeless population.

Close coordination between the city and the town of Oneonta on shared services increases.

New Projects

Mayor Drnek announced, “We’ll soon be bringing our elder population market rate, senior housing through a reimagination of the St. Mary’s school building on Walnut Street.”

By this summer, a stage dedicated to the memory of legendary jazz musician Al Gallodoro will become a permanent addition to Mueller Plaza.

Latte Lounge is expanding its footprint on Main Street.

The New York State Department of Transportation has determined that the intersection of Maple, Main, and Lettis Highway needs a roundabout for safety reasons. The DOT will begin work on the intersection at the end of May, following college graduations. Completion is projected for the late fall. This will disrupt traffic patterns for the summer tourist season.

“After months of effort and persuasion, we have a motivated seller and interested buyers…(for) the former Oneonta Hotel,” Drnek said.

College Partnerships

“Oneonta is a college town,” the mayor reminded the large crowd. “Our students are nearly half our population.”

Drnek recently created a Town-Gown Taskforce headed by students from both colleges, with co-equal representation from the community and the campuses.

Aliyah Brooks ‘25, Cooper Cohen ‘28, and Nick Kanciruk ‘27 of Hartwick College attended the mayor’s “State of the City” address with Dr. Laurel Elder, co-director of the Hartwick Institute of Public Service. The institute’s goals are to engage young people in our democracy, work with local government to strengthen this region, and to inspire a new generation of public servants, Drnek explained.

Elder said Mayor Drnek has been “transformational in terms of his outreach to the college campuses and the students in particular. The Hartwick Institute of Public Service has had him as well as members of the Common Council—including Len Carson and Cecelia Walsh Russo—to campus multiple times for fantastic conversations with students.”

Hartwick student Cooper Cohen was appointed by Drnek to lead the new Town-Gown Taskforce. The purpose of the task force is to activate the student-citizens on both campuses to become active participants and strategists in the future of Oneonta.

“We need to think younger. We need to incorporate our students into the direction and enhancement of this city,” Drnek suggested.

Parking

The mayor also addressed parking. He acknowledged that the demolition of the garage on Water Street has been hard on merchants. The loss of convenient parking has created real challenges for many of Oneonta’s downtown businesses, he said.

The Parking Strategies Taskforce is a collective of landlords, businesses, concerned citizens and city staff. With the help and suggestions of this group, the city has “added over 150 new spaces and there are over a hundred more coming by early summer,” Drnek said.

Mayor Drnek explained that City Administrator Greg Mattice, “runs the city. All department heads report to him.”

He acknowledged that “we cannot continue to raid our general fund, without a plan to fill the hole we leave.” The role of the Economic Growth and Sustainability Taskforce is to identify additional and alternative funding streams, Drnek said.

He shared that this taskforce proposed closing Water Street on weekend evenings and turning it into a pedestrian-friendly outdoor venue for dining and entertainment.

“We can’t tax our way to prosperity,” the mayor said.

Recognition

Mayor Drnek recognized a litany of people during his address. He thanked Otsego Media LLC and its willingness to videotape his remarks on February 18 and on multiple other occasions. He said, this keeps “the community apprised of the news and events that shape our collective lives.”

Drnek also thanked Geoff Doyle, executive director of the Foothills, for “hosting multiple community dialogues and gatherings like this one.”

On Thursday, March 6 there will a Public Information Session on Homelessness in the Atrium of the Foothills, Drnek announced.

“It has been the honor of my life to serve you,” the mayor concluded.