CLARK RULES! (AT LEAST IN ’17) Chair Turns Back Challenge, But Colleagues Are Divided By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Four-year Chair Kathy Clark, R-Otego, was elected to another year on the helm of the county Board of Representatives, but it was ugly. She ended up with 3,341 weighted votes, comfortably above the 3,115 majority, but hardly a landslide. Three of the eight Republicans on the board didn’t vote for her: her challenger, Len Carson, Oneonta, voted nay, and…
Online home of The Freeman's Journal and Hometown Oneonta
Advertisement
KOUTNIK - Page 8
CLARK STILL LACKS VOTES TO KEEP JOB By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – According to tally just received, Kathy Clark, R-Otego, still lacks sufficient votes to keep her chairmanship of the Otsego County Board of Representatives. Clark has six of the 14 votes, a minority. Under the board’s weighted voting system, those county reps have more-than-average clout, but their combined votes only add up to 2,842, still short of the 3,084 votes she needs for reelection. The…
HOT DEBATE IN BOARD ROOM COUNTY TO CUOMO: APPROVE PIPELINE Majority: No Gas, No New Jobs By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The Otsego County Board of Representatives a few minutes ago approved sending a letter to Governor Cuomo urging him to push for approval of the Constitution Pipeline. CLICK FOR TEXT OF LETTER TO GOVERNOR The weighted vote was 3,672 ayes to 2,022 nays, with one absence. Voting aye were Ed Frazier, R-Unadilla; Jim Powers, R-Butternuts;…
EDITORIAL Maria Ajello’s Travails Reveal Flaws In Back-Tax Collection Editor’s note: At readers’ requests that this editorial reach the widest local readership possible, it is being reprinted from the Hometown Oneonta & Freeman’s Journal editions of Sept. 15-16. It’s time to bring Maria Ajello’s ordeal to an end, to end an unpleasantness – an injustice, even – that has been simmering for 24 months now, as she reminded the Otsego County Board of Representatives at its September meeting on the…
Resident Marks 24th Month Since Losing Home To Taxes County Reps Unswayed By Citizen’s Plea By JIM KEVLIN • for www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – As she has at every county Board of Representatives’ meeting since losing her home in the county’s annual tax sale in August 2014, tearful Maria Ajello, formerly of the Town of Richfield, pleaded to get her home back for the 24th time at this morning’s meeting. She noted that, for two years as of today, she has appeared…
It’s Vive La France This Afternoon As Fenimore Marks Bastille Day…
County Board Vote Fails To OK Tourism Contract By JIM KEVLIN • for www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Destination Marketing of Otsego County (DMOC) found itself in the middle of the political crossfire at today’s county Board of Representatives meeting. DMOC is led by a board of volunteer directors from the hospitality industry who contracted with the county to invest part of the county’s bed-tax revenues to put “heads in beds” – i.e., tourists in hotels and motels. The first three-year contract…
COUNTY BOARD APRIL MEETING $16.7M Upgrades Proposed For Jail 32-Cell “Pod” Would Let One Officer Survey Whole Block From One Post By JIM KEVLIN • for www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – An engineering firm specializing in prisons this morning proposed $16.8 million in renovations and expansions to the 25-year-old Otsego County Correctional Facility at The Meadows, including a futuristic 32-cell “pod” addition , to the county Board of Representatives. Which begged the question, and county Rep. Len Carson, R-Oneonta, asked it: “What…
Calvary Hill Hosts Valentine’s Day Gala…
DEMOCRATS BACK ZEPHYR Koch Brothers’ ‘Dark Money’ Headed To 19th, She Reports By JIM KEVLIN • for www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Despite a forceful presentation by her primary opponent that appeared to take her by surprise, Zephyr Teachout won the support of the Otsego County Democratic Committee a few minutes ago in her bid to replace retiring Republican Congressman Chris Gibson in the 19th District this fall. Teachout, who reminded her audience she won 71 percent of Otsego County voters in her…