County Reps Hear Anti-ICE Concerns; Talk Monument Restoration, Staffing Challenges

By BILL BELLEN
OTSEGO COUNTY

Prior to the Otsego County Board of Representatives meeting last Wednesday, February 4, there were brief special meetings of the Public Safety and Legal Affairs and Administration committees. PS&LA briefly convened to approve a few minor contract modifications before adjourning to make way for Administration.

Administration Committee Chair Margaret Kennedy began by passing the agenda to Personnel Officer Penney Gentile. Gentile presented the county’s new and hastily-created gender-based violence in the workplace policy for the county. She stated that the proposal took into account new requirements of public entities in New York State that must now be met in order to “bid on competitive state contracts and certain grants.” Gentile noted that the Solid Waste Department’s annual hazardous waste event relied on one of the grants in question, sparking the urgency in getting the legislation passed before the February 27 funding deadline.

Rep. Daniel Wilber questioned whether this meant that businesses with sole proprietors would be challenged if they did not maintain formalized policies in such a manner, to which Gentile responded she was unsure, given she was only made aware of the need for this approval the day prior. Ultimately, committee members came to the reluctant decision that they should approve the policy so as not to hold up necessary funds for Solid Waste, while making a commitment to reviewing and possibly revising the policy’s wording in the committee meeting scheduled later this month.

After approving Isaiah Gibbs as acting director of information technologies following the recent departure of Brian Pokorny, there was a brief executive session and shortly thereafter the Administration Committee meeting was adjourned.

Following this, Board Chairman Edwin Frazier Jr. initiated a public hearing regarding the creation of a new county department. As no audience members wished to speak on the creation of the Office of Assigned Counsel, Frazier moved to the regularly-scheduled board meeting, with only Rep. Nora Mendez absent.

Mary Anne Whelan was first to address the board. Following prior appearances to discuss the same matter, Whelan said she would like to reapproach Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr.’s commitment to the 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She noted that Governor Kathy Hochul has introduced legislation at the state level which would forbid these agreements, meaning there is a chance that the current agreement may become void.

Reiterating points from prior meetings, Whelan stated, “We don’t need protection from immigrants. We need protection from ICE, as recent events have aptly demonstrated.”

Whelan urged board members to contact Devlin to discuss the policy, acknowledging that she and others had reached out numerous times to no response.

Next, Teresa Winchester came to the podium and presented the board with a petition from the “ICE Out” protest that occurred in Oneonta on Saturday, January 31. The petition was addressed to Devlin and called on him to terminate the 287(g) agreement immediately. Winchester shared that 477 signatures had been collected, highlighting that 440 of those signatures were gathered within an hour at the protest.

“We’ve all seen the chaos, violence and even murder perpetrated by ICE,” Winchester said. “Such acts could result in lawsuits with astronomical damages for which taxpayers of Otsego County would ultimately be held responsible.”

Marcie Schwartzman spoke next, jumping immediately into her financial concerns with the 287(g) agreement and questioning how Devlin could make the claim that this arrangement would provide the funds to help construct the proposed new county jail. Editor’s note: To the best of our knowledge, Sheriff Devlin has never made such a claim.

“I’m upset. This is all about my checkbook,” Schwartzman remarked. “I don’t care where it goes. It goes. It’s gone. How many aliens are in this county to make this math work? How many murderers and rapists are running around here to make this math work? It doesn’t.”

Schwartzman also pointed to the poor recordkeeping of ICE, citing examples of the agency taking American citizens by mistake and disrupting their lives for weeks at a time. She worried that lawsuits in the event of something like this could cause the county’s insurance rates to go up, leading to eventual tax hikes to compensate.

Among other speakers, Director of Community Affairs and Government Relations for SUNY Oneonta Caroline Williams shared the only non-ICE related remarks of the morning, thanking the board for working with the university on initiating job shadowing of the county government, which she said was scheduled across multiple departments on Wednesday, February 11. With Williams’ remarks concluded, Frazier closed the privilege of the floor.

Rep. Keith McCarty spoke for the Public Works Committee and revisited the approval of County Highway Superintendent Rich Brimmer’s request to purchase four new tandem plow trucks at a cost not to exceed $1,407,952.00 and two single axle dump trucks at a cost not to exceed $480,000.00. McCarty clarified that these funds were already allocated in budgets for the year. He continued with Brimmer’s report, noting that the bid just closed for the bridge work on County Route 58A and that the low bidder for the pre-fabricated steel truss bridge came in at $898,855.00.

McCarty also spoke about a stalled effort to refurbish the Civil War monument in the Village of Cooperstown, adjacent to the Otsego County courthouse, which was discussed back in November and said, in light of this year being the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, it felt appropriate to pursue. He said he would appreciate anyone interested in helping reach out via phone or e-mail to him or someone else on the Public Works Committee.

Rep. Andrew Marietta spoke for the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, highlighting Trevor Fuller’s requested approval to apply with Otsego Now for CDBG Microenterprise Grants. IGA approved the criteria for the Community Events Grant, which will be rolled out this year as last year’s applicants submit their reports in order for continued eligibility. The Community Events Program page is live on the Otsego County website and the deadline for requests is Sunday, February 22, with a maximum request of $2,000.00.

There was some confusion over the budget allotted for the program, as McCarty noted he was under the impression that they had been funded up to $75,000.00 rather than the $60,000.00 Marietta mentioned. County Administrator Steve Wilson said many external partners of the county saw budget cuts during the budgeting process last year, though some had been partially restored.

Rep. Adrienne Martini spoke for the Human Services Committee and said that the Department of Social Services added 10 new employees, but that there were still seven vacancies that they are actively looking for social and case workers to fill. She also recommended people get their flu shots, as 646 cases have been confirmed this year compared to 136 during the same window of time in 2025. There was discussion among the board over capacity for the warming station in Oneonta and the aim to collect data on the volume of its usage this winter. It was reported that the warming center in Oneonta will be open again from Friday, February 13 until early morning on Tuesday, February 17 to address expected cold conditions.

With this information shared, Frazier made a plea to the board and the audience at large.

“We have the unhoused population, but there are people in their own homes that have problems,” Frazier said. “I think it’s up to the community to reach out and make sure your shut-ins, your elderly, are taken care of. And that’s all on us and everyone in the audience.”

Following the PS&LA report, Rep. James Powers spoke briefly regarding his thoughts on ICE.

“I’ve told my three towns this. I just think I should clear the air and tell everyone this. And it’s probably because of my background in agriculture that I’ve worked with a lot of immigrants, I’ve partied with them and I have picnics with them. So I told my three town boards I do not support ICE. I realize you have to have immigration and customs enforcement, but I won’t support it in the fashion that it is,” Powers remarked.

Frazier noted Powers’ remarks and joined with Kennedy to share their experience at County Advocacy Day in Albany the day prior before passing to Marietta again to speak for Technology and Strategic Planning. Marietta noted that the committee is in the process of getting department heads to input their 2025 updates onto ClearPlan so committee members can review them at their meeting later this month. He recalled discussion regarding integrating ClearPlan into county government further and that the plan is for quarterly updates to begin on the platform this year.

Wilson gave the county administrator’s report and shared that roughly 9 percent of the 2026 budget had been spent so far. Wilson reported the county hired 205 people in 2025, mostly filling vacancies, but lost 186, particularly noting the struggles the DSS is facing.

Wilson closed by sharing that Otsego County Budget Analyst Dayrelis Aydogan is in the process of creating a comprehensive analysis of all of the mandated programs imposed upon the county so the board can see the local costs and revenues of each.

The consent agenda began with numerous resolutions being pulled for minor corrections or due to technicalities. Of these, the pulling of Resolution 126—an amendment to a previous law enacted to remove the residency requirement for the position of county attorney—stood out as McCarty expressed his continued objection to the law before it subsequently passed again.

Numerous late resolutions were presented, largely consisting of those brought forth at the special sessions earlier that morning, most notably Resolution 135 authorizing a 2026-2029 contract with the Civil Service Employees Association. With this slew of individual resolutions passed and business concluded, the board adjourned.

The next meeting of the Otsego County Board of Representatives will be held on Wednesday, March 4 at 10 a.m. The February 4 meeting can be viewed in its entirety on the Otsego County New York YouTube page.