Common Council Approves Expenses, Shares Services, Debates Vision of City’s Future

By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA

On Tuesday, February 4, the City of Oneonta Common Council met for more than two hours and covered a variety of topics in an agenda supported by 154 pages of detailed documentation. Council members approved warrants totaling $487,574.60.00 for payment by the finance director and authorized more than $280,000.00 in other expenses.

The two largest expenses were $97,928.00 for a 2025 Kubota front-end loader and $73,322.00 for water treatment plant equipment.

As a reminder, the City of Oneonta manages a $20 million budget. Its annual operating expenses exceed revenues. The $1.68 million deficit in the 2025 adopted budget is being funded with fund balances.

In an e-mail response dated February 4, City Administrator Greg Mattice answered questions submitted ahead of the 6 p.m. meeting. He said, “The expenditures on tonight’s council agenda are included in the 2025 adopted budget. In some cases, the council must still approve certain contracts and/or funding from Restricted Reserves.”

For example, the Kubota will be funded from the Highway Equipment Reserve. It will replace a 2016 front-end loader.

Mattice added, “The loader is being purchased off a New York State contract, which is allowable per New York State law and city purchasing policy; essentially, bidding has already been done by New York State and we are piggybacking on the state contract to buy this equipment.”

Chris Yacobucci, director of Public Works, explained the necessity of the $73,322.00 equipment purchase. He said that the city creates its own chlorine. According to a Finance and Human Resources Committee report dated January 30, the Water Treatment Plant utilizes a proprietary chlorine disinfectant generation system called MIOX. There are two MIOX units at the plant for redundancy, with each used for one month at a time on an alternating basis. One unit was replaced in 2024. The older unit has been in use for more than 16,000 hours. The manufacturer advises that the average life span for a cell is approximately 10,000 hours.

On February 4, the Common Council gave its consent for the City of Oneonta to enter into a two-year agreement with Rt. 23 Associates, the owner of Southside Mall, to continue to allow Oneonta Public Transit buses to pick up and drop off riders at the mall. The city will receive $7,660.00 in revenue per year as part of this agreement.

Mattice explained, “This is a negotiated amount that the mall owners agreed to pay….They recognize the value of public transit coming to their front door. This contract, and others like it, benefit OPT by supplementing the income generated from fares and state/federal reimbursements for ridership/mileage.”

Mattice provided a history of OPT ridership between 2016 and 2024. There are four college bus routes and 10 other routes, including public transportation from Oneonta to Cooperstown and Sidney.

According to the report, the college routes serving SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College produce the bulk of the bus ridership.

The Southside Mall is the most popular destination among riders among the other 10 routes.

One way the City of Oneonta minimizes its expenses is through shared services with the Town of Oneonta and Otsego County.

The Common Council authorized Mayor Mark Drnek to enter into an intermunicipal agreement with the County of Otsego. This enables the City of Oneonta Fire Department and the Otsego County Office of Emergency Services to join forces to provide training and a more timely and effective response for and during emergency situations caused by hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction.

Oneonta Fire Chief Brian Knapp said, “Hazmat requires many hours of training and the city’s new recruits get this training.”

He said the county has the hazmat equipment, which makes it “a nice partnership.”

Council meetings are open to the public and are an opportunity to see local government in action. Another way the city avoids expenses is use of volunteers.

The City of Oneonta offers many opportunities to serve in a volunteer capacity on boards, commissions, committees and task forces. Members of the boards and commissions are appointed by the mayor with the consent of the Common Council.

Len Carson, council member from the Fifth Ward, was absent on February 4. The remaining seven council members unanimously approved four residents of the city which the mayor recommended for three board positions. Ari Tobi will serve on the Community Police Board. Sandy Bright and Sean Robinson will serve on the Environmental Board. Daniel Sweet will serve on the Zoning and Housing Board of Appeals.

Deer Management

Susan Lettis is the volunteer coordinator of the City’s Deer Management Program. She gave the mayor and the council a report on the success of this program, which resulted in 13 harvested deer this hunting season.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation offers a Deer Management Assistance Program to aid in controlling targeted populations of white-tailed deer. Lettis applied for a grant through DEC for DMAP permits for access to city-owned property around the reservoir, where hunting is currently allowed.

Lettis distributed a map to council members. She reported that she obtained 60 permits. Forty were reserved for the public and 20 were reserved for private land owners.

Lettis worked with City Clerk Kerriann Harrington to award the permits on a first-come, first-served basis to hundreds of applicants. The application deadline was August 1, 2024 and will be August 1 again this year.

DMPA permits are good for three years. These permits are valid for use only during the open deer hunting seasons and can only be used by licensed hunters.

Harrington said the program had a “very positive response. I only wish we had more permits.”

Other Business

Code enforcement is a source of revenue for the city. Council Member Don Mathisen of the Eighth Ward inquired about an update for 179 Main Street, the site of six apartment units above Roots and the Greater Oneonta Historical Society.

Steve Yerly, code enforcement officer, said, “We did an inspection. We intend to declare it unsafe and ask tenants to vacate according to standard operating procedures.”

Yerly said that the landlord has decided not to address fire hazard violations. The sale of property is another source of revenue.

Housing

Mayor Drnek reserved 30 minutes at the end of the meeting to discuss housing. Otsego Media volunteered to record this portion of the meeting for later reference.

Mathisen said, “We need housing for all income levels. We should look at housing for young families and elderly. We need multi-family housing for all income levels….I would like to see condominiums built on Chestnut Street.”

Yerly said, “We had someone build a 10-unit apartment building on Chestnut Street.”

Mathisen expressed his doubts over the viability of having low-income, middle-income and high-income tenants all in the same building.

Community Development Director Judy Pangman gave two examples of mixed-income housing: Dietz Street apartments and the new Springbrook apartments on Main Street.

The mayor shared his vision for “12-month-a-year customers living downtown.”

He asked council members, “What would you like Market Street to look like in 20 years?

Walkability and vibrancy were words the council members used to describe their vision for Oneonta.

Council Member Cecilia Walsh-Russo of the Second Ward said, “We need ‘third’ spaces, where people can just hang out…There should be housing near the transit hubs to give people without vehicles a way to get about.”

The mayor also asked council members to “wave a magic wand” and imagine a “reimagined Broad Street.” He’d like to see the 260 parking spots by Damaschke Field in full use.

Yerly asked if any of the council members have read the Zoning Plan.

“The Zoning Code mirrors the New York State codes,” he said.

He described Clinton Plaza as a single level development.

“We are trying to move away from those kinds of structures,” Yerly said.