Rebuttal from Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh
I’m Not Opposed to a Dog Park; I Have Municipal Responsibilities
“The Partial Observer” opinion piece published in last week’s edition of “The Freeman’s Journal” contained several inaccuracies which are important to address.
I am not opposed to a dog park. At the June 2025 Village Board meeting, the motion was made “to proceed in creating a dog park…with the location to be determined.” I seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The board supports the creation of a dog park. I am one of the elected officials who feel that it would be preferable to site a dog park on property already owned by the village and under our jurisdiction.
The property referenced in the “Partial Observer” opinion piece is owned by Cooperstown Central School and was part of the 2010 Gateway project, which extended Linden Avenue to Route 28, constructed the Blue Lot for parking, and created a snow storage/filtration area. The Gateway project cost in excess of $5 million, funded in part by a Federal Highway Administration Grant and the balance by village taxpayers, including a 10-year, $500,000.00 bond, ultimately paid off in 2024.
The Gateway project was wholly in the jurisdiction of the Town of Otsego. A Transfer of Jurisdiction of the gateway project area from the Town of Otsego to the Village of Cooperstown was supposed to occur but never happened. Village taxpayers not only carried the 10-year bond on the project but also, in the ensuing years, funded improvements and repairs on property within the Town of Otsego for which we could not be reimbursed under New York State funding streams, as the property lay beyond our municipal boundary. In New York State, spending taxpayer funds beyond a municipal boundary is frowned upon unless a shared services or other agreement is in place. No agreement was ever in place.
After becoming mayor, I worked to formally annex most of the property into the jurisdiction of the village. This involved agreements with Otsego County, Leatherstocking Railway and the Town of Otsego. Final annexation documents were signed on April 10, 2024, and incorporated into the village, all of Linden Avenue from its eastern curb to its intersection with Route 28.
The recent column indicated the village built and maintains sidewalks within the Gateway project area. It is more accurate to say that the village built sidewalks in the Town of Otsego. The village’s southern boundary stops at the former W.L. Taylor office property on Linden Avenue. In order to provide a safe pedestrian access from the village to the high school located in the Town of Otsego, a sidewalk on Linden Avenue from the Taylor property to the school was constructed. Unlike the village, the town has no regulations requiring property owners to clear snow from an adjacent sidewalk, therefore village employees clear the snow. Snow removal on other sidewalks within the Gateway project does not occur.
The statement that the village “paid CYB $130,000.00 to build a new field on the Linden Avenue parcel” is not accurate. For those who remember the CYB Beanie Ainslie Field, they know it was located just beyond the Village Streets Department building, on village-owned land which served for decades as a landfill. To construct the Blue Lot and extend Linden Avenue, CYB had to relocate. As compensation for the loss of their field and the improvements they had funded (field construction, fencing, storage concession buildings, etc.), the village paid CYB $130,000.00. The funds were not contingent on relocating to any other school-owned parcel and, as we know, CYB relocated to Hartwick.
Cost overruns occurred during the Gateway project because it was found that at some point petroleum projects had been deposited in the unmonitored landfill on which the CYB ball field was built. The village was required to relocate and remediate the soil. The village paid the school $50,000.00 for a permanent easement on an undeveloped piece of land, where the soil from the ball field was spread, covered with a membrane and topped with two feet of clean soil. The easement area also has an underground water filtration system for the adjacent snow storage parking lot. Yes, the village staff does mow this property to ensure saplings/trees do not grow and damage the underground infrastructure.
It is on this property owned by the school that the village has a permanent easement “for construction of a recreational facility,” where some residents desire to build a dog park.
In April 2025, at the request of the Village Board, Village Attorney Martin Tillapaugh sent a letter to the school, the owner of the land and the permanent easement grantor, to determine if they would allow a dog park as a “recreational facility.” Not receiving a response, in December 2025 the Village Board approved a letter from the Parks Board to the School’s Finance and Facilities Committee, asking to meet and discuss the terms of the permanent easement and determine what might be possible.
At the February 25, 2026 Village Budget Meeting, the trustees who had met with the school’s committee indicated an agreement was moving forward for us to take ownership of the land and we should include $10,000.00 for a dog park in the 2026-27 Tentative Budget, and that was approved.
I am not opposed to a dog park. As mayor, however, I have the responsibility to ensure the village is in compliance with New York State laws and that we do not expend village taxpayer funds beyond our municipal boundary without first ensuring all the required agreements are in place.
Ellen Tillapaugh is the mayor of the Village of Cooperstown.
