Coop Board of Trustees: 'No' to Proposed Sign Law Amendment

By DARLA M. YOUNGS
COOPERSTOWN

Following numerous meetings and a public hearing, the Cooperstown Board of Trustees voted 6-1 on the evening of Monday, October 28 against a proposed amendment to the village’s existing sign law. If approved, the sign law would have been changed to allow banners to be placed on New York State Electric and Gas utility poles on portions of four streets in the Village of Cooperstown—Lake Street, Pine Boulevard, Chestnut Street and Glen Avenue.

The impetus for the proposed change—Local Law 11 of 2024, Sign Law Amendment—was a request from Toddsville resident and Cooperstown Central School graduate Joanie Parrillo to hang “Hometown Heroes” banners, honoring local veterans, in the village. The banners can be seen in communities throughout Otsego County and New York State, and have become a popular way of honoring service of individual veterans, but the village’s current sign law would prohibit hanging of such banners on public property.

Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh was the lone vote in favor of amending the law. Tillapaugh was the first village representative to speak when discussion of the sign law amendment officially opened, following a public comment period during which no members of the dozen or so audience members took the floor.

Though attendance was sparse, interest was not. It was announced that Helmut Michelitsch, owner of Metro Cleaners, had hand-delivered more than 60 letters in support of the sign law amendment and the Hometown Heroes banner program prior to the meeting, in conjunction with Cooperstown VFW Post 7128. Three other letters and one e-mail—evenly split between support for and opposition to the law change—were submitted to the record for consideration by village trustees.