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Volume 7, No. 50
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, September 4, 2015
City of The Hills
Complimentary
IT’S UNANIMOUS:
MAYOR HERZIG THE HERZIG FILE
Council Speeds Up ‘Inevitable,’ Putting OFO Exec In Office Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Under the watchful eye of Coach Mike Vagliardo, OHS Yellowjacket varsity runningback Tichene Harris takes off with the ball. The first home game is 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, against Chenango Forks.
Volunteerism Summit Due At Foothills
I
f you are “On Board Oneonta,” or want to be, this is for you. An evening’s discussion subtitled, “Inspiring Community Involvement In Our Region,” aimed at getting more people interested in volunteerism, is planned at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Foothills. Moderators range from Oneonta’s new mayor, Gary Herzig, to young executives like Unalam’s Zoe van der Muelen and Friends of Basset Executive Director Josh Truman. To register (at no cost) or learn more, call 436-4124. More details forthcoming. IN NEW YORKER: SUNY Oneonta sociology professor Mike King is quoted in this week’s New York in “The Fearful and the Frustrated,” an exploration of Donald Trump’s candidacy. WRONG NUMBERS: Hartwick College has 1,500 students on campus, not 1,600, and experienced a 150 shortfall in its freshman class, not 350, as reported in last week’s “Welcome Back!” edition. BALLONS WILL FLY over Oneonta again this weekend at the Susquehanna Balloon Festival/DETAILS, B1
By LIBBY CUDMORE
T
he coast was clear. “Gary Herzig being elected mayor was inevitable,” said Acting Mayor Russ Southard. “When it was clear that no one would be running against him, I bounced the idea of appointing him mayor off Common Council.” “This was all Russ’ doing,” said Herzig, the soon-retiring Opportunities for Otsego COO. “We met, and he had a very convincing logic that this would ease the city’s transition, with so many Council seats turning over.” So during the “Additional Business” section of Council’s Tuesday, Sept. 1, meeting, Southard – before a packed house – offered a resolution appointing
Herzig mayor, effective Tuesday, Sept. 15. Common Council followed through, electing Herzig by a unanimous vote, a rarity lately. Hearty applause followed. “We find ourselves in uncharted waters,” Southard said in a statement. “The election will bring a new mayor, and, at the very least, five new Council members. It would be Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA Please See HERZIG, A7 Smiling Gary Herzig embraces his new role: mayor.
If Constitution Stalls, Will Amphenol Stay? Leatherstocking Gas Strategy Raises Questions By JIM KEVLIN
T
he future of Amphenol Aerospace’s 1,000-job Sidney plant if the state rejects the Constitution Pipeline is “a relatively minor blip from the perspective of the people who have opposed the pipeline,” says Bob Nied, Richmondville, formerly on the Stop the Pipeline steering committee. If approved, Stop the Pipeline adherents believe, the pipeline would damage tourism, preventing job growth in that sector, and depress property values, counter-balancing Amphenol’s economic benefits, Nied said. But Glenn Nealis, director of the Delaware County Economic Development
Born: Pasadena, Calif.; moved to Oneonta, 1975. Education: Queens College Family: Wife Connie, CCS director of physical education; daughter, attorney Sasha Herzig, New York City Professional Experience: • 1975, teacher, Camp Grace, Masonville • 1976, contractor, House Warmers, specializing in energy efficiency • 1984, joins Oneonta Job Corps, rising to director • 1997, joins Opportunities for Otsego, rising to COO City Experience: • Board of Assessment Review, chair • Planning Commission • Comprehensive Master Plan Committee & Zoning Task Force • Housing Task Force Quote: “I’ve always been drawn to trying to make things better.”
Child Soldier’s Horrors Inform ‘Common Read’ By LIBBY CUDMORE
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efore Ishmael Beah was old enough to graduate high school, he had already seen several lifetimes worth of violence. A former child soldier during Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war, Beah’s memoir, “A Long Way Gone,” is this year’s SUNY Oneonta’s Common Read, with Beah giving the Mills Distinguished Lecture on at 7 p.m. Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA Wednesday, Sept. 23 in the Amphenol’s futuristic Sidney plant. Dewar Arena. “It had been on the list Department, takes another view. He pointed out that, with its $30 million annual payroll, last year,” said Human Ecology Professor Theresa there is no larger employer than Amphenol Please See AMPHENOL, A6 Russo. “A member of our
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Green Toad’s Jim Havener admires window display.
selection committee had heard him speak, and knew Please See READ, A3
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD