Town, City Invited To GO-EDC

Talks On Collaborations

By JIM KEVLIN • HOMETOWN ONEONTA

Edition of Dec. 12, 2014

The most steadfast advocate of town-city collaboration is gone, but Mayor Dick Miller’s spirit lives on.

GO-EDC, the economic-development advocacy group spearheaded by Albert Colone and Bill Shue, has invited the Oneonta Town Board and Oneonta City Council to a moderated conversation at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, on how the two might collaborate for the benefit of both, plus the Greater Oneonta region.

Colone, founding president of the former National Soccer Hall of Fame, said he was inspired, in part, when he ran across the 2008 Center for Government Research study, “Opportunities to Use Shared Services and Consolidation Strategies to Improve Efficiency, Effectiveness and Equity in Local Government.”

The meeting, planned in the Oneonta Middle School auditorium, will be moderated by Steve Smith, executive director of the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District, as well as Shue, who is a former city alderman, and Colone. It will cover three topics:

• The possible development of a comprehensive town-city water/sewer master plan.

• The merits of a town-city tourism, sports and recreation agency to establish Oneonta as the “tourism gateway” to Catskills and Coopertown.

• Review the 2008 study.