News from the Noteworthy: Gov’s budget a reason to be cheerful Happy New Year! I had difficulty celebrating the 2022 New Year. I was certainly unable to make any resolutions. After all, I’ve spent the last two years being very resolute. As the third year of the pandemic loomed, I saw the year beginning with a continued onslaught of information, from new or revised protocols, to new plans to protect our health, our community, and our way of life. But…
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Springbrook boosts salaries, incentives, wage access Springbrook – Otsego County’s third-largest employer with more than 1,200 workers – announced today it will give a $4,160 base wage increase to all current employees and offer COVID-related incentive payment of up to $1,500 for current employees and new hires. The organization provides at-home care, residential and educational services, day services, and clinical, therapeutic, and behavioral support to more than 1,100 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities from across New York State. Springbrook…
News from the Noteworthy: Tell them you’re grateful With Christmas only two days away, I am filled with thoughts of family, friendship, and community. But, what is family? How do we define community? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a family is “a social group made up of parents and their children,” and a community is “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” While these definitions are technically correct, what they fail…
“Giving Tuesday” a day to focus on community help and engagement By PATRICK DEWEY • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Groups from around the world joined in 2012’s inaugural “Giving Tuesday” on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, encouraging people to step outside the more commerce-driven post-holiday “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” and give back to do good in their communities and in the world. Now an annual event, “Giving Tuesday” takes place this year on November 30. For those looking to give back…
Opinion by Patricia Kennedy We’re more than a nice place to visit I recently returned from a much- anticipated vacation with my family. In the weeks and days leading to this vacation, it seemed as if all I could think about was how good it would be to get away—from the house I spent a year living AND working in. From the office I’ve become reacquainted with in the last six months. From vaccination reports, retention reports, vacancy reports, and…
Springbrook celebrates program graduates By KEVIN LIMITI • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Springbrook, an organization that provides services and support for the developmentally disabled, held a graduation ceremony at its campus in the town of Milford on Thursday, June 24. There were 15 graduates, the largest ceremony Springbrook has had, because of the coronavirus pandemic it was held in an outdoor ceremony, which was a first. Another first included the first set of graduating siblings, Jessica Miller and Stephanie Miller. Traci…
Herzig: For city to thrive, jobs and housing are issues that intersect By KEVIN LIMITI • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA — Housing and jobs remain high priorities for the city of Oneonta. Both are needed and, according to Mayor Gary Herzig, need to be gradually increased at the same time. “You can’t have a thriving community, you can’t have a good economy, if you can’t provide people with good housing,” Herzig said. According to Herzig, housing is “desperately” needed at…
City of the Hills Common Council eases mask rules Mayor Gary Herzig relaxed the mask ordinance in downtown Oneonta during the Common Council Tuesday, June 1. Masks will no longer be required on Main Street. Also a motion on a payment to Springbrook to build a walk way connecting Main Street to Water Street and the parking garage was passed unanimously. Springbrook is planning a development on Main Street for professional housing. Otsego Outdoors to offer summer activities challenge Otsego2000,…
Springbrook Tells Staff: Get Vaccinated, Get $500 Bonus By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com With 35 percent of its employees not yet vaccinated, Springbrook is offering a $500 enticement to encourage them to get the COVID-19 vaccine shot. “This is important, this is safe,” said Springbrook CEO Patricia Kennedy. “It’s going to get us back to where we want to be, being with the people we want to be with and doing things we want to do. That’s my…
HARTWICK ALUM FUNDS NURSE DEGREES Then, He Painted Springbrook; Today, He’s Benefactor If we cement relationships by giving, not getting, Bob Spadaccia’s relationship with Springbrook began in the 1960s when, then a Hartwick College freshman, he and two other new Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity brothers painted at the Upstate Home for Children three Saturdays in a row. A couple of years later, while still at Hartwick, a deer jumped in front of his car. “Any chance I can give it…