Re-elected Chair, Bliss Focus: Administrator By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Otsego will now have a county administrator. Now, the question is how to fit the new job into the current system, and how to adjust the system for the new job. “We have a few things to iron out,” said county Rep. David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Middlefield/Cherry Valley, in an interview as he enters his third one-year term as Otsego County board chairman. For instance, who’s in charge…
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‘OUR CITIZEN’ ELEVATED TO VICE CHAIRMAN REELECTED BOARD CHAIR, BLISS NAMES 3 NEW COMMITTEE CHAIRS By LIBBY CUDMORE & JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.COM COOPERSTOWN – The Otsego County Board of Representatives, 9-4, with one absence, today elected Meg Kennedy, C-Hartwick/Milford/New Lisbon, as vice chairman. David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/ Middlefield/Cherry Valley, was elected chairman for a second two-year term. Dan Wilber, R-Burlington, nominated “our Citizen of the Year” for the post, a reference to Kennedy receiving that designation last week…
NEW FACES AT 197 MAIN ST. Basile To Seek Raises, Aid For Animal Shelter Editor’s Note: This profile is the first of three on newly elected Otsego County representatives who will take office Jan. 1. By JAMES CUMMINGS • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA – Jill Basile saw her future as her father, Bruce, lay in a hospital bed. “During that time I watched a lot of news,” she said. “I decided that I didn’t want to be the person who…
HIRING COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR For Stuligross, Career-Long Dream Coming To Fruition By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA – Kay Stuligross has come a long way, baby. Growing up in Oberlin, Ohio, in the 1940s and ’50s, the daughter of a college professor, her mother sometimes wouldn’t vote “because she didn’t want to cancel out my father’s vote.” Raising a family in Oneonta in the 1980s, she and her husband, Hartwick College Economics Professor Jack Stuligross, agreed her time would…
NEW CHALLENGE: HIRING MANAGER Bliss Anticipates Kennedy Will Lead Recruitment, Too By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – If – as is anticipated – Dave Bliss is reelected chairman of the Otsego County Board of Representatives at the organizational meeting Thursday, Jan. 2, one of his first acts will be to name a committee to recruit the first county administrator. In an interview, he said he sees no reason why county Rep. Meg Kennedy, C-Hartwick, who led the…
County Manager Decision Expected This Afternoon The Otsego County Board of Representatives was scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, on a historic matter: Whether to pass its executive authority to a hired professional, a county manager. As of presstime the evening before, it appeared certain – as certain as these things can be – that a coalition of Republicans, Democrats and the sole Conservative representative would create the $150,000 a year position. For the first report on…
EDITORIAL On County Manager, Now Hard Work Begins By the time you read this, it’s very likely Otsego County will have created a job of county administrator, joining all but a handful of counties around New York State. Heading into the Wednesday, Dec. 4, monthly meeting of the county Board of Representatives, the momentum to professionalize government was clear. Six of the seven Democrats were firmly in favor, plus two Republican leaders – chairman David Bliss and Schenevus’ Peter Oberacker.…
EDITORIAL Kennedy, Bliss, Committee Deserve Praise Who gets the praise for professionalizing Otsego County government? Foremost, probably county Rep. Meg Kennedy, C-Hartwick. The idea caught fire with her, evident in her close questioning of SUNY New Paltz Vice President Gerry Benjamin, keynoter at “County Manager v. County Executive,” a forum on the idea Dec. 14, 2017, at Springbrook’s new community center. In the months that followed, she became the first local county representative ever recruited to New York State Association…
Unilaterally, SSPCA Planning Fees By JIM KEVLIN • Special To AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Richard Sternberg, saying he was acting on behalf of the Susquehanna SPCA, told what appeared to be a partly surprised county Board of Representatives this evening that the Shelter will begin unilaterally levying fees Jan. 1 on county entities and towns that require its services. “We will be initiating a billing system,” said Sternberg, the retired Bassett surgeon and Cooperstown village trustee, who said he was acting…
County Board Allocates $230K To Fix Jail Roof By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Even with $230,000 in emergency funding allocated by the Otsego County Board of Representatives to fix the leaking roof of the county’s Public Safety Building, it could still be six to eight weeks before inmates are returned to the jail. Still, by making use of foam roof repair or other means, the repairs will likely be done to a high standard. “We have…