The Oneonta Charter Review Commission appreciated the opportunity to present the first full draft of the proposed Oneonta City Charter to the mayor and Common Council on June 7, and to a League of Women Voters forum on June 21.
This first draft is the next step in a process stretching back more than a year, during which the commission has:
"¢ interviewed former mayors, council members and department heads;"¢ compared the present charter with how city government actually works;"¢ held several public hearings;"¢ studied charters of over a dozen other cities similar to Oneonta in New York state;"¢ invited mayors, city managers and council members to Oneonta to learn from them; and
"¢ spent several months arriving at this draft.
As the process continues, as the commission will hold numerous briefings and public meetings with citizens and officials to gain further input and suggestions and to make modifications. The final draft will not be completed until September, and then will be put before voters in November. We welcome comments and questions from both city officials and residents.
As expected, most interest has centered on our proposal to provide a city manager for Oneonta. The commission feels strongly that, under the present charter, the Common Council is seriously overburdened having both to set policy for city government and to supervise its administration, and effective administration of an $18 million government is too much for a part-time mayor.
The best solution is a city manager, a full-time top administrator who will head up a new leadership team of city departmental directors, and who will be hired by the Common Council and report to the council.
Having a city manager will strengthen the Common Council by freeing it from the micromanagement of running the city on a day-to-day basis, enabling council members to focus on making policy. The council will have more time to think about how to solve our biggest problems and about what we want Oneonta to look like in the future. Most former mayors and many present and former council members agree with this recommendation.
The proposed charter retains a strong part-time mayor who presides over the Common Council. The mayor will remain the one elected official in the city who represents all the citizens of Oneonta.
Everyone from cities with a city manager stressed two points: one, clear and continuous communication by the city manager with the mayor and Common Council is vital; and two, if the council finds the city manager not complying with its wishes, it may fire the manager. Checks and balances are built into the draft charter, with the council ultimately in charge.
Other questions that have been raised include:
"¢ How would the city budget be prepared?
The mayor and council will set budget parameters, but the actual preparation will start with the departments under the direction of the director of finance (the present chamberlain), a process supervised by the city manager. The final budget will be decided, as now, by the mayor and council.
"¢ How would city employees be hired and fired?
The city manager will have these powers, which are not clearly stated in the present charter. The present and former mayors and many council members agree the city manager should have those responsibilities. Our recommendation is based on the need to simplify and clarify city employees' complex supervisory lines. City employees' legal job protections will not change.
"¢ Would the city manager be too strong, diminishing the role of department heads?
Oneonta is fortunate to be served by dedicated, capable department heads and employees. However, the challenge every city faces is to have all departments operating in smooth coordination with one another within the framework of city-wide policy and priorities set by the mayor and Common Council. The addition of a city manager will enhance the role of department heads by providing them expert and professional leadership, support and supervision — important functions that cannot be expected from a part-time mayor and Common Council.
The Charter Commission looks forward eagerly to more meetings with city officials, employees and citizens to gain further input and improve the present draft. Several public meetings on the draft charter will be held in coming weeks, focusing on the city's wards. That schedule will be announced soon. The public is invited to any or all of these meetings.
The next Charter Commission meeting, open to the public, will be 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 6, in the Council Chamber of City Hall at 258 Main St.
Copies of the draft charter are available from the City Clerk's office in City Hall and at Huntington Memorial Library. The draft may be viewed and downloaded online at http://www.oneonta.ny.us/government/chartercommissionpage.asp. Questions and comments may be telephoned to 431-1351.
This commentary was submitted by Paul Scheele on behalf of the Oneonta Charter Review Commission. The commission is chaired by Dave Rissberger. Other members are Scheele, John Dudek, Martha Forgiano, Karen Geasey, Tom Kelly, Steve Londner, Larry Malone, Sarah Patterson, Kathryn Stuligross and Laurie Zimniewicz. Kathy Wolverton, city personnel director, serves as non-voting liaison to the commission.
Guest Column
Changes to city charter will be good for Oneonta
- Guest Column
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
In Otsego County’s local elections last fall, a number of candidates — most of them on the independent Sustainable Otsego line — ran on an anti-fracking, pro-sustainability platform. They recognized that our current way of life — dependent on increasingly scarce, costly and polluting fossil fuels — cannot continue.
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Time to get off the bus and on the computer
Seventy-five years ago, use of a new technology resulted in a dramatic transformation of education in our region and in rural areas throughout the country.
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Cuomo's Machiavellian maneuvers are a danger
New York State has a long history of problems with money -- high income taxes, high property taxes, and a high lifestyle in Albany that seems to attract lots of politicians with high, even presidential, aspirations. For decades our politicians have sucked up enormous wealth from businesses and individuals, and redistributed it in ways that ensure their continued political employment. The Empire runs on money, and recognizing this fact, it should be simple to figure out how the fracking debate is going to play out over the next few months in Albany.
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Home rule laws aren't a radical idea
A lot of discussion and debate has occurred in our area lately over the issue of 'home rule' as it would apply to natural gas drilling. Let me offer some thoughts and my perspective on the issue and on the legislation I have sponsored (S. 5830) to enable local governments to treat natural gas drilling the way zoned communities treat any other commercial, industrial or residential use.
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Sustainable shouldn't be a dirty word
Sustainable Otsego has been in the news a lot lately. We have been vocal critics of hydrofracking for natural gas both locally and statewide, and we put together with the Democrats a winning slate of pro-sustainability, pro-home rule, anti-fracking candidates in the recent elections.
- Saturday, November 5, 2011
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Fracking fears are based on facts
Some recent letters in The Daily Star and other local papers have implied that supporters of candidates for town and county offices who oppose gas drilling are fear-mongering, or that we can rely on the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to protect us.
- Saturday, October 22, 2011
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Tea goes well with 'Occupy'
Otsego County supporters of the Tea Party will remember me. In 2009, we marched in outrage against the bi-partisan $800 billion taxpayer bailout of Wall Street.
- Monday, October 17, 2011
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City charter deserves support
Having served as mayors of the City of Oneonta, we write to urge the city’s voters to approve the proposed new city charter on Nov. 8.
- Saturday, October 1, 2011
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Don't overlook potential of workers with disabilities
American jobs are dominating the national conversation right now, and with good reason. But amid the political debates and pundit analysis, there's one segment of the labor market that's going largely ignored: Workers with disabilities.
- Sunday, September 18, 2011
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Coventry pipeline could benefit region
Last month, anti-drillers campaigned against a pipeline shipping Coventry gas to Bainbridge and Sidney customers. What's wrong with this picture?
- Monday, August 1, 2011
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'Gas Wars' entering its second act
Raise the curtain on the second act of Gas Wars. The SGEIS allows access to 85 percent of the shale gas beneath our state. The hardcore environmental lobby has lost to the science and the multi-state research of the three-year study by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. All that is left is the hoopla surrounding the 60-day comment period. The DEC then presents the final document to the governor for release. Then gas development begins in New York.
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Make affordable birth control a priority
One of the biggest barriers to effective family planning may soon come tumbling down for millions of American women.
- Saturday, July 16, 2011
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SUNY Oneonta expansion will be bad for city
Recent plans by the State University College at Oneonta to expand its reach into the community have threatened to change the character of several neighborhoods here in the city.
- Saturday, July 9, 2011
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Health: Take steps to protect your skin this summer
NetSummary
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The folly of job-training programs
America believes that the solution to every social and economic problem is job training. Outsourcing? Job training. Economically depressed neighborhoods? Job training. Impoverished single mothers? You guessed it.
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'Change' is the byword for city, region, state
Regardless of the outlook at the federal level, and separate from the glimmer of promise for New York State, we're sure to see changes in the "who" and "how" of handling our local challenges in the year ahead.
- Saturday, June 25, 2011
- Saturday, June 11, 2011
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Health column: Take step to prevent and treat urinary tract infections in girls
By Dr. Linda M. Lukose How common are urinary tract infections in girls?
- Saturday, June 4, 2011
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Take steps to combat illegal dog fights
Dog fighting is a felony in all 50 states. However, because of loopholes in the laws in New York state, many dog fighters go free. This has made New York a haven for these vicious criminals. People come from other states and cities to rural areas like ours to take part in the criminal activity of dog fighting. Otsego and Delaware counties are close to the Pennsylvania border and within an hour of Binghamton and Albany, making us a central location.
- Saturday, May 21, 2011
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Gas Wars: A play in three acts
Act One: The Prequel. Starts in 2008 and ends with the publication of the Supplemental Generic Impact Statement.
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
