Hartwick Supervisor-elect on Civility, Budget
By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
HARTWICK
Last month, Cody Moore won her race for Town of Hartwick town supervisor with 57 percent of the vote. Running on the Hartwick United and Republican lines, she defeated the sitting town clerk, Andrea Vazquez, who ran as a Conservative.
Moore, a former Cooperstown school board member and the owner of Cooperstown Equestrian Park, ran as part of the Hartwick United slate aiming in part to “restore trust in our town government” and foster “a more respectful and productive town,” as one Otsego County GOP mailer read. The slate also promised to protect “taxpayers by spending responsibly.”
Fellow slate members JoAnn Gardner and Caren Kelsey also won seats on the town board, a sweep.
In an interview with AllOtsego, Moore attributed the victory to the people of Hartwick desiring “stability and honesty and calmness,” something she felt the slate demonstrated throughout the campaign.
The Town of Hartwick has drawn attention from around Otsego County in recent years for frequent arguing amongst board members, this past January leading to a call to the Sheriff’s Office. Weighty accusations and calls for members to resign have flown back and forth.
Though Moore and Gardner also ran as Republicans, the slate’s victory was recognized even by the chair of the Otsego County Democratic Committee, Caitlin Ogden, who offered moral support in the face of “the personal risk they took on by running for the cause of good governance for the Town of Hartwick.”
Moore said she has been receiving calls and messages from around the county offering support and mentorship, including from public officials.
“I’m still pinching myself, because the amount of people that we’re meeting,” Moore said, “that really were rooting for us has been amazing.”
Moore said her first priority upon taking office is to gain the respect of the town and rest of the board in order to address the community’s issues.
“I think there’s a lot of untrust that the other side has for us. They’re very skeptical,” she said.
She pointed to a recent debate at the board’s November 17 public hearing and work session, where some board members advocated to decrease the supervisor position’s salary from what had been advertised prior to the election, citing “experience.”
“So I think that’s going to be the biggest thing, to show them that I can lead the town and that we can be transparent and we can have respect,” Moore told AllOtsego. “The goal is we need to run the town. We can’t have personal agendas. We need to make sure we’re working as a unit for all of the people in Hartwick.”
As for how to maintain civility in board meetings, Moore said she’s been reading up on Robert’s Rules of Order. “When things do get out of hand, we’re going to make sure that we’re utilizing it to make sure that we are keeping the peace and the respect.” She said she wants to avoid “a three-hour meeting where we’re just going around and around circles,” if necessary by tabling controversial measures for another time.
On the issues, Moore said she wants the town to be more fiscally responsible, expressing frustration with how recent salary increases for highway department employees were in part funded from the fund balance, rather than a tax increase.
“That is going to make the new board coming in the bad guys this next year. We’re definitely gonna have to raise taxes more than 2 percent this next year because you can’t just keep using your savings,” Moore said.
Wanting to be “frugal” with town spending, Moore added, “We have to get a plan and stick to the plan going forward.”
Moore also wants to make housing affordability one of her priorities. She said she does not want more rentals, preferring people “have a house where they can establish and start a family.” She said she is looking into ways of making that happen in the long-term.
Given the recent local election shift to even years, Moore’s term will only be one year. She said she plans to run for re-election for a full term this coming year.
