Election Results Certified, Dems Win Big in Oneonta
By JULIA DELPOZZO
SUNY Institute for Local News
ONEONTA
The 2025 General Election produced a Democratic sweep in the City of Oneonta, electing Daniel Buttermann as mayor and Carolyn Marks as the Seventh Ward city council member. City voters also elected four Democrats to the Otsego County Board of Representatives. Three propositions were also successfully put forward in the city, all passing with “yes” votes. The election results were officially certified by the Otsego County Board of Elections on November 24.
The key race in the city was the mayoral seat with Democrat Daniel Buttermann running against Republican Luisa Montanti. With 2,158 total votes cast, Buttermann won with 55 percent of the vote (1,195 votes) against Montanti’s 43 percent of the vote (938 votes). Eighty-five of Buttermann’s votes were received on the Independent line, where he was listed under the Better Oneonta party. Twenty-five of the votes cast were write-ins, blank or void.
Buttermann will replace Mayor Mark Drnek, a fellow Democrat who opted not to run for re-election after one term in office. Mayors serve four-year terms in Oneonta. Buttermann will take office on January 1, 2026.
In a statement shared with AllOtsego shortly after the election, Buttermann expressed excitement for his new role as mayor. He said he is “thankful to the voters for trusting me with this important role at this important time for our city.”
Buttermann’s campaign was largely focused on the economy and issues of budget, resource management, fiscal stability and long-term growth.
“We have to compete in order to grow and evolve,” he said in his November 17 statement. “The 2020 census showed population loss [in Oneonta] for the first time since 1940. We must turn that around and we can do it through smart investments in housing and economic development.”
Community collaboration and public-private partnerships will be central to these efforts, Buttermann proposed.
“We are fortunate to have growth-focused partners in Oneonta, from entrepreneurs and the chamber of commerce to the colleges on the hill,” he said, “and we share the vision that Oneonta is a place to be and can do more to bring people back.”
Originally from Arizona, Buttermann moved to Oneonta in 2011 when his wife, Dr. Ana Laura González, took a position in Hartwick College’s Music Theory Department. Previously working in the insurance industry, Buttermann has an MBA from the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. He is currently a lecturer in Hartwick College’s Business Department, where he is also a clarinet studio instructor. He and González perform music locally as a duo and he also plays with the Catskill Symphony Orchestra and Catskill Choral Society.
As previously reported by AllOtsego, Buttermann currently serves on the Board of Directors of Opportunities for Otsego and the Oneonta Concert Association. He is a past president of the Oneonta Rotary Club, as well as a former member of the Oneonta City Schools Board of Education and the Oneonta Town Planning Board. He is also on the organizing team of the annual TEDxOneonta event.
In the other head-to-head race in the City of Oneonta, Carolyn Marks defeated Mike Forster Rothbart for the Seventh Ward seat on the city’s Common Council. Both candidates were Democrats, though Marks secured the Democratic party nomination and the progressive Forster Rothbart ran as an Independent for the Better Oneonta party. Marks’ name also appeared on the ballot as an Independent with the Neighbors Voices party.
There were 182 total votes cast in the city’s Ward 7. Marks received 53 percent of the vote (97 votes total—85 votes on the Democrat line, 12 votes on the Neighbors Voices line). Forster Rothbart received 35 percent of the vote (64 votes). Twenty-one of the votes cast were blank or void.
Multiple attempts to reach Marks for comment were unsuccessful. She has publicly stated that she will accept the council seat, despite previously announcing on October 8 that she was withdrawing from the race. Her name could not be withdrawn from the ballot at that late date, however.
Forster Rothbart was the incumbent, having been appointed by Mayor Drnek in November 2024 to fill the Seventh Ward seat left vacant by Bryce Wooden. Forster Rothbart began serving on the council in January. His term will continue until the end of this year, at which time Marks will be sworn in to fulfill the remainder of Wooden’s unexpired term, through the end of 2028.
Following the general election defeat, Forster Rothbart told AllOtsego, “I’m grateful to have served as the Common Council member this past year for Ward 7—both because I was able to help make some positive changes in Oneonta, and it gave me a chance to get to know many more of my neighbors. I feel optimistic about Oneonta.”
Speaking about his opponent Marks, Forster Rothbart said, “Sure, we have differences of opinion, but we are all ultimately working together toward common goals to strengthen our hometown.”
With a little over one month left in office, Forster Rothbart concluded on a hopeful note.
“I want to wrap up projects I’ve worked on,” he said.
He listed a number of initiatives that he hopes to see through: “pass a budget that continues to serve the needs of residents despite rising costs; save the city tens of thousands of dollars by decreasing staff overtime; pass a resolution that celebrates our diversity and opposes arbitrary arrests by ICE; support the Housing Commission in their efforts toward more affordable housing; and continue to champion the Oneonta Creek Recreation Area and new trail system.”
Forster Rothbart does not see his time working with Oneonta city government as over, either.
“I expect I’ll continue to prod council members to think proactively and work toward a future where Oneonta is a destination for tourism, jobs and the arts,” he said. “We have all the right pieces, and we just need to put the puzzle together.”
Four Otsego County Board of Representative seats were also on the ballot in the City of Oneonta. All the winning candidates were Democrats: Nora Mendez (District 11), Adrienne Martini (District 12), Michele Clapperton (District 13), Jill Basile (District 14). Only the Thirteenth District seat was contested, with Clapperton defeating the incumbent Republican Donald Scanlon Jr., 383 votes to 254 votes.
Allen Ruffles, Republican, ran unopposed for the position of Otsego County treasurer.
On the ballot statewide, Proposition 1 passed by a narrow margin. It approves a Constitutional Amendment to offset past expansion at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex in the Adirondacks by allowing the state to purchase and add 2,500 acres of land into the “forever wild” Adirondack Forest Preserve.
All three of the City of Oneonta’s proposals on the ballot won the “Yes” vote. The approvals were overwhelmingly in favor, with approximately 75 percent of voters choosing “Yes” for each proposal.
Proposition Two, which adopted staggered four-year terms for mayor and city council members, received 1,676 “Yes” votes against 391 “No” votes. The change means half the members of Common Council will be elected every two years. It creates staggered four-year terms, starting with a two-year term for some members elected in 2027.
Proposition Three approved updating the boundaries of the city’s eight wards using 2020 Census data to ensure balanced representation for all residents. It received 1,654 “Yes” votes and 396 “No” votes. Over a hundred voters left their vote blank for the proposal.
Proposition Four established a nine-member Board of Ethics to provide ethical oversight for city government. There will be one representative from each ward and one city officer, all appointed by the mayor. It passed with 1,709 “Yes” votes, 349 “No” votes and 100 blank or voided votes.
The election certification statement from the Otsego County Board of Canvassers was co-signed by commissioners Michael Henrici and Lori L. Lehenbauer.
This story was created by student reporters through the OnNY Community Media Service, a program of SUNY Oneonta and the SUNY Institute for Local News.
