Board Reviews Path Forward for Comp Plan, Discusses County Community Event Grants

By BILL BELLEN
OTSEGO COUNTY

The Otsego County Board of Representatives got to business right away at its April 1 meeting. Representatives Daniel Wilber and Nora Mendez were both absent during roll call, though Wilber arrived shortly thereafter. In a stark contrast to the board’s meetings as of late, no one chose to speak during privilege of the floor, moving the meeting along to petitions and notices.

There was a summons with notice by Michael Stavola against the Otsego County Sheriff’s Office, specifically Sergeant Craig Morrison and Deputy Sheriff Jessica Thornhill. The notice asserted violations of Stavola’s Fourth Amendment rights, including the right to privacy in the home and the abuse of police power. Money damages sought are in excess of $300,000.00.

Planning Department Director Tammie Harris gave a presentation on the potential scope and benefits of a comprehensive plan for Otsego County. Harris said that such a plan for the county would focus on engagement with the public and businesses, as well as the creation of a vision for use and prioritization of resources in the county such as housing and farmland. She noted that formulating a comprehensive plan may also open the door to grant programs that only greenlight funding for projects listed in formalized comprehensive plans.

According to Harris, Otsego County applied for Smart Growth Planning Funds from the New York Department of State in 2024 in order to fund the creation of an up-to-date comprehensive plan. Harris showed highlights from completed plans in Chenango and Onondaga counties, both of which focused heavily on public participation and “building a county-wide identity.”

Harris stated that a comprehensive plan for Otsego County would be “our vision for the future. It’s aspirational. It’s how we see development in our county moving forward.”

Harris said creation of the plan would require the establishment of a dedicated committee including representatives from different sectors of the community, the procuring of a consultant, and extensive data analysis for the creation of an accurate community profile. She estimated work could begin in 2027 and last through 2029 with a ranging cost estimate of $250,000.00-$450,000.00, noting that the DOS will cover a sizable portion of these expenses. Harris concluded by explaining next steps, which include refining the plan’s scope, obtaining budgetary quotes and preparations for the grant application.

Rep. Keith McCarty highlighted numerous requests from Highway Superintendent Richard Brimmer during his recap of the Public Works Committee’s latest meeting. McCarty said Brimmer requested approval to acquire the materials and services needed to replace a bridge on County Route 1 in Unadilla at a cost not to exceed $1.5 million.

Brimmer requested approval to send out a revised fuel depot agreement to organizations outside the Otsego County government approved to utilize the facility’s fuel, noting an increase from $0.10 cents per gallon to $0.25 cents per gallon of gasoline and an increase from $0.10 cents per gallon to $0.30 cents per gallon of diesel fuel. Brimmer also shared that work on the County Route 59 bridge cannot commence until 2027 due to the unavailability of steel for the project.

McCarty said that solutions are still being searched for with regard to refurbishments on the Civil War monument outside the county offices. He shared that the people involved are hoping to conduct the project in phases, with the monument itself likely having to be taken apart and reset. McCarty said the latest estimates on this cost were $300,000.00-$400,000.00.

Rep. Andrew Marietta spoke for the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, focusing primarily on the current state of the Community Event Grants Program. Marietta said that the program has become “a victim of our own success” as county officials continue to see record qualified applicants, meaning there is less money to distribute to each applicant, with the average award this year being just $800.00. Marietta said there were 78 applicants this year, with 75 being considered qualified for funding. The committee is looking to revise the program criteria in 2027 in order to better allocate funding.

McCarty pitched the idea of shifting the Community Event Grants Program to one administered by board members, where money is divided equally between representatives and they decide what events to fund in their respective communities. Rep. Adrienne Martini pushed back, saying she was wary of giving board members that authority over the money. Reps. Wilber and Leslie Berliant both said they would be more open to the idea as long as there was still a process of review, with Berliant expressing her wariness for making individuals so involved in the image of the funding. Board Chairman Edwin Frazier Jr. said that the disparity of funding had to be looked at, using the example of grant funding for Springfield’s Fourth of July celebrations and Unadilla’s Flag Day event being the same amount, despite apparent differences in scope and attendance.

During Wilber’s account of the Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, there was lengthy discussion over the ongoing pest control concerns in various county buildings including the jail and Central Kitchen. Wilber said it appears that a budget oversight caused funding to address the problem to be axed. Rep. Margaret Kennedy said for the record that the revoking of funds must have happened late in the process, as she was part of discussions to include the funding during the budget talks last year.

Wilber also once again put forth the idea of a part-time funded county historian position. He pitched the creation of a map of historical sites across the county and said it could be a boost to tourism activity in a wide range of areas. Berliant supported the notion, saying she has seen positions like this “pay for itself” in other jurisdictions, with some historians even leading paid tours of the routes they produced.

Marietta spoke for the Technology and Strategic Planning Committee, beginning by showing how to access the Otsego County Strategic Plan with a step-by-step guide while sharing his computer’s screen. He thanked department heads for cooperating with the strategic plan initiative and increasing their transparency by keeping their plans up to date and the public aware of where their tax dollars are being spent. Marietta further encouraged representatives to use Clear Plan in their meetings and publicize it in order to get the most use from the planning documents as possible. The “Otsego County 2026 Strategic Plan” can be accessed at https://county-otsego-ny-cleardoc.cleargov.com/23303/904247/d.
Marietta continued—now speaking for the Performance Review and Goal Setting Committee—and said that department head evaluations will be moving forward this year and called on each department’s home committee to stay on top of their evaluation schedules. He said the process will utilize Clear Plan documents and each department’s strategic plan to get an understanding of current work being done.

After the conclusion of regular reports, numerous representatives spoke about their experiences at the most recent New York State Association of Counties conference. Rep. Eamonn Hinchey spotlighted short-term rentals as an area the county could focus on in its comprehensive plan. He recalled a report he heard by representatives from Ulster County where they hired a firm to data scrape and found out only a quarter of AirBnBs and Verbos were actually reporting their status, had permits, and were paying the relevant taxes as such. Kennedy said that Otsego County has a registry of these businesses already that could help as a baseline. Wilber and Berliant emphasized the real number likely far surpasses whatever the registry says due to AirBnB and Verbo not publishing location data and allowing for greater obfuscation of data.

The board then pulled Resolutions 180 and 183 due to a need to correct minor errors. The rest of the consent agenda passed by present members unanimously, with Hinchey being out of the room at the time. After his return, the board passed modified versions of the pulled resolutions and approved three resolutions from the floor, including one from Kennedy to approve the appointment of Isaiah Gibbs as the new director of information technologies for the county. Gibbs has been acting director since the departure of longtime director Brian Pokorny, who was honored for his retirement at the March board meeting.

The board then entered into executive session for an extended period. Upon returning to open session, the board approved a final resolution for the day amending cost stipulations for the county’s purchase of 386.86 acres of land on County Highway 33W, which was approved last year. With no further business to attend to, Frazier gave a brief announcement stating he would not be present at the board’s May meeting, and the board adjourned.

The next Otsego County Board of Representatives meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 6, at 10 a.m. April’s meeting can be viewed in its entirety at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEB_sTP9Xr8&t=13s.