‘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…
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EDITORIAL As Did Garretson, So Does Kennedy Kindred Spirits In Problem-Solving In a way, our Citizen of the Year designation – it will continue, of course – has come full circle. Interviewing Meg Kennedy, this year’s designee, brought to mind Tom Garretson, the first designee, in 2006. Throughout that stormy year, when the Cherry Valley area was torn between those who feared 24 industrial-sized windmills would degrade the town’s environment and ambience, and those who saw a boon in new…
2019 CITIZEN OF THE YEAR The Kennedy Method County Rep Shepherds In Professional Management, Energy Task Force, More By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com HARTWICK – Leadership gravitated toward Meg Kennedy, to hear her tell her story. She first realized that was happening at an Oneonta Farmers’ Market vendors’ meeting in 2008 or 2009, where a difficult issue was being debated. As the point of decision approached, Tom Warren, who runs the Stone & Thistle Farm, raising meadow-fed lamb…
ON NEWSSTANDS TODAY MEG KENNEDY CITIZEN OF YEAR Representative Shepherded In Professional Management, More…
NEW CHALLENGE: HIRING MANAGER Bliss Anticipates Kennedy Will Lead Recruitment, Too By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – If – as is anticipated – Dave Bliss is reelected chairman of the Otsego County Board of Representatives at the organizational meeting Thursday, Jan. 2, one of his first acts will be to name a committee to recruit the first county administrator. In an interview, he said he sees no reason why county Rep. Meg Kennedy, C-Hartwick, who led the…
CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO You Can Listen To Debate On County Administrator Reps Votes To Professionalize Operation…
CLICK FOR ADMINISTRATOR JOB DESCRIPTION Past And Present Collide In Debate On Administrator Planning v. ‘Dealing With It’ Explored; Also, Redistricting By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Three decades of striving ended today as the Otsego County Board of Representatives, 11-2-1, created the position of county executive. In a half-hour of give and take, it was clear that, despite and lopsided vote, starkly contrasting outlooks remain. “You talk about planning,” said county Rep. Keith McCarty, R-East Springfield,…
EDITORIAL Kennedy, Bliss, Committee Deserve Praise Who gets the praise for professionalizing Otsego County government? Foremost, probably county Rep. Meg Kennedy, C-Hartwick. The idea caught fire with her, evident in her close questioning of SUNY New Paltz Vice President Gerry Benjamin, keynoter at “County Manager v. County Executive,” a forum on the idea Dec. 14, 2017, at Springbrook’s new community center. In the months that followed, she became the first local county representative ever recruited to New York State Association…
Energetic Case Made For County Manager Only 10 At Briefing In Oneonta City Hall; Second Session Tuesday In Cooperstown “I don’t think (county government) is run as effectively as the people who elect us should demand it should be,” county Rep. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, inset at right, told the 10 people who attended an informational session this evening in Oneonta City Hall on the county Board of Representatives’ plan to create a $150,000 county manager job to run the $116…
LISTEN TO EDITOR’S REPORT ON WAMC VOTE IS WEDNESDAY ON COUNTY MANAGER Debate Focus: Cost Vs. Benefit By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The Otsego County Board of Representatives voted in 1993 to create a county manager position. The result was a 7-7 tie, but the weighted voting system blocked the move. A quarter-century plus a year later, a resolution is again headed to the county board, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, and with at least two Republicans,…
