‘OUR CITIZEN’
ELEVATED TO
VICE CHAIRMAN
REELECTED BOARD CHAIR, BLISS
NAMES 3 NEW COMMITTEE CHAIRS
By LIBBY CUDMORE & JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.COM
COOPERSTOWN – The Otsego County Board of Representatives, 9-4, with one absence, today elected Meg Kennedy, C-Hartwick/Milford/New Lisbon, as vice chairman.
David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/ Middlefield/Cherry Valley, was elected chairman for a second two-year term.
Dan Wilber, R-Burlington, nominated “our Citizen of the Year” for the post, a reference to Kennedy receiving that designation last week from Hometown Oneonta, The Freeman’s Journal and wwwAll.OTSEGO.com.
Voting nay were Democrats Andrew Marietta, Cooperstown/Fly Creek, and three Oneonta reps, Danny Lapin and two freshmen, Jill Basile and Clark Oliver.
As vice chairman, Kennedy succeeds a Democrat, Gary Koutnik of Oneonta, who retired, and those who voted nay said they wanted to see bi-partisanship sharing of the leadership continue.
But Democrats Michele Farwell of Gilbertsville, Kennedy’s vice chair on the count Energy Task Force, voted aye, as did Adrienne Martini, the fourth Oneonta rep.
Peter Oberacker, R-Maryland, was the absence.
Republican County Chairman Vince Casale demurred, saying Kennedy “is the brightest person in the room when it comes to solving the county’s problems. She deserves it.”
In naming committee chairmen, Bliss largely kept the same people in place: Kennedy at Administration and Intergovermental Affairs; Oberacker at Public Works; Andrew Stammel, D-Town of Oneonta, at Health & Education; Keith McCarty, R-East Springfield, at Solid Waste & Environmental Concerns; Ed Frazier, R-Unadilla, at Negotiations, and Andrew Marietta, at Technology & Strategic Planning.
Three new chairs were Wilber at Public Safety & Legal Affairs, Martini at Human Services, and Farwell at Performance Review & Goal Setting.
