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,…
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VOTE EXPECTED ON COUNTY MANAGER Debate May Focus On Cost v. Benefit At Nov. 5 Meeting 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, the one…
Administrator Vote Possible In December $75,000 Put In 2020 Budget, But It’s Unclear If The ‘Ayes’ Will Win By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – A vote on creating a county administrator position may come as soon as December, county Rep. Meg Kennedy, R-C/Mount Vision, told the county Board of Representatives meeting this morning. “This is momentous,” reacted county Rep. Gary Koutnik, D-Oneonta, the board’s vice chairman. “We have a timeline!” Retiring at year’s end, he said hiring…
NYSEG BRIEFS ENERGY TASK FORCE Pipeline Expansion To Begin Next Year By JENNIFER HILL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Work on increasing the DeRuyter-Oneonta gas pipeline’s capacity by 25 percent will begin next year, NYSEG has told the Otsego County Energy Task Force. That could mean the “interruptible power” – Oneonta’s colleges and Fox Hospital are required to switch to more expensive fuel oil when temperatures drop below zero – will kick in less often, county Rep. Michelle Farwell,…
from the ENERGY TASK FORCE Energy Task Force Goal: To Avoid Us Vs. Them To the Editor: Your June 20-21 editorial on the Otsego County Energy Taskforce ends with the sentence: “We’re all in this together.” We on the Taskforce Leadership Committee couldn’t agree more. But the editorial’s main assertion that the business community has been shut out of the process is not based on fact and includes inaccuracies and unhelpful hypotheticals that need to be corrected. Chief among these…
Otsego Chamber Policy Declares Independence Regarding Energy Issues Renewables Supported, But Decompressor, Too By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Otsego County businesspeople support all energy options – renewables, yes, but also the controversial decompressor station proposed for West Oneonta – states a county Chamber of Commerce “Energy & Infrastructure Policy” released in the past few days. The statement came bottom-up from the Oneonta-based organization’s countywide membership, said Chamber President Barbara Ann Heegan, who also chairs the Economic…
Energy Taskforce Sets Out Ambitious Plan in 1st Meeting by JENNIFER HILL • Special to www.ALLOTSEGO.com WEST ONEONTA – In the first convening of the 38-member Otsego County Energy Taskforce Town Hall Wednesday evening, County Board Rep. Meg Kennedy, a founder of the group, announced its end goal: an ambitious plan “that will address the current and future energy needs of Otsego County” by October 2020. Calling the plan’s timeline “ambitious,” Kennedy said the Taskforce aimed to complete a draft of the…
Koutnik Votes ‘No’ On ‘Climate Pledge’ Draft As Too Weak But SWECC Committee, 4-1, Forwards Compromise Document To Full Board By JENNIFER HILL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA – Saying the language “was softened,” County board Vice Chair Gary Koutnik, D-Oneonta, today voted against sending a “Climate Smart Community Pledge” resolution, as revised, to the full board for action March 6. However, his colleagues on the Solid Waste & Environmental Concerns Committee nonetheless agreed to forward the adjusted resolution, 4-1, for…
County IGA Committee Forms ‘Leadership Team’ To Explore Energy Future By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – A “leadership team” of five is being formed to study Otsego County’s energy future, Intergovernmental Committee chair Meg Kennedy told her colleagues at their monthly meeting this morning. Details were not immediately available, but the team includes representation from the county board, the OCCA (Otsego County Conservation Association), and the city and town of Oneonta.…
Meg Kennedy First Otsego County Rep On NYSAC Board COOPERSTOWN – County Rep. Meg Kennedy is making history. It surfaced at today’s county Board of Representative meeting that the second-term legislator has been invited and agreed to join the board of directors of NYSAC, the influential New York State Association of Counties. What’s more, she is the first representative from Otsego County ever to be so honored.…
