County Board Gives Final OK To Raises By JENNIFER HILL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The Otsego County Board of Representatives made it official today. With only one dissenting vote from Andrew Stammel, D-Oneonta, the representatives voted a half-million dollars worth of raises for department heads and managers – including $3,000 for themselves, their first raise since the $250 in 2008.…
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SO FAR, NO CASES HEARD Ethics Board Chair Kim Muller Resigns By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA – A year and a month since it was revived and with no cases heard yet, the Otsego County Board of Ethics has suffered another setback. Its chairman, Kim Muller, the former Oneonta mayor who recently stepped down at Otsego County Democratic chair, has advised county board Chair David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield, that she will depart when her term expired…
COUNTY BOARD • DECEMBER 2018 County Reps Double Their Contributions For Health Coverage Frazier Calls It ‘Leading The Way’; Board Members Pay $1,160 More By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – In what he termed “leading the way,” county Rep. Ed Frazier, R-Unadilla, today proposed doubling county representatives’ contribution to their health insurance from 5 to 10 percent. The other county reps – with Andrew Stammel, D-Town of Oneonta, absent – a voted unanimously to do so, a…
Editorial for November 30, 2018. Ruffles Takes First Step Against Whack-A-Mole For years now, Otsego County’s annual auction of foreclosed-on tax-delinquent properties has eaten up a lot of oxygen at the county Board of Representatives’ monthly meetings. It’s the Whack-A-Mole of county government, which suggests: There are unresolved issues. So a take-charge presentation by the new county treasurer, Allen Ruffles, at the November meeting was welcome, if partial. First, he declared, having studied the issue, giving delinquent taxpayers four years…
Low Turnout At Hearing Clears Way For ’19 Budget Due to the snow, perhaps, no member of the public appeared at the public hearing on Otsego County’s 2019 budget, which began at 6 p.m. this evening in Courtroom #1 in Cooperstown. Above, county board Chair David Bliss, left, gave the floor to Clerk of the Board Carol McGovern to officially convene proceedings. The budget keeps the tax increase under the state tax cap, and includes $500,000 in raises for 104…
PUBLIC HEARING AT 6 TONIGHT Raises Possible For Supervisors, Representatives By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The culmination of a two-year study designed to bring department-head and county-rep salaries into line will be presented this evening at the public hearing on Otsego County’s 2019 budget. The public hearing will be at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse on upper Main Street, Cooperstown. The salary plan, developed by averaging maximum-minimum salaries in 16 similar Upstate counties, would increase…
AllOTSEGO.com, HOMETOWN ONEONTA, FREEMAN’S JOURNAL ENDORSEMENTS The Center Will Hold – If You Vote Nov. 6 As voters – in Otsego County, the 19th Congressional District and nationally – struggle to make the right decision in the Tuesday, Nov. 6, midterm elections, a study, “The Hidden Tribes of America,” surfaces with a conclusion that has been widely commented on nationally: “A majority of Americans (61 percent), whom we’ve called the ‘Exhausted Majority,’ are fed up by Americans’ polarization. They know…
Meg Kennedy First Otsego County Rep On NYSAC Board COOPERSTOWN – County Rep. Meg Kennedy is making history. It surfaced at today’s county Board of Representative meeting that the second-term legislator has been invited and agreed to join the board of directors of NYSAC, the influential New York State Association of Counties. What’s more, she is the first representative from Otsego County ever to be so honored.…
Editorial for September 7, 2018 For Now, Only Choice In Sheriff’s Race Is For Due Process A letter to the editor the other week drew on the Biblical injunction, “The son shall not suffer for the sins of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquities of the son.” And surely that’s as it should be. That said, it’s legitimate for open-minded citizens to question how county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. has handled the situation involving his son,…
DEC Unveils Handicap Accessible Basswood Pond Recreation Area By PARKER FISH • Special To www.AllOTSEGO.com BURLINGTON – The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation cut the ribbon this morning on the revamped Basswood Pond State Forest recreational area. The $100,000 project added several features to the site, while making the pond fully accessible to handicapped visitors. “With the completion of these new accessible features, visitors with mobility impairments can enjoy the natural beauty and recreational opportunities at Basswood Pond,”…