HIS REGATTA #25
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Volume 210, No. 22
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Cooperstown’s Newspaper
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Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, June 1, 2017
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND
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HIS AIM: SMOOTH TRANSITION
After Mathes, What? With Whole Staff Gone, Otsego Now Hires Headhunter To Find New CEO IN RELATED ARTICLES: ► Mathes discusses qualities his successor will need to succeed/A7 ►Otsego Now board chair Devin Morgan says Mathes changed our way of thinking about economic development/A4 ►EDITORIAL: Now is the time to gear low, move forward/A4 ►For more details on last week’s climatic Otsego Now meeting, visit
By JIM KEVLIN
The Freeman’s Journal
Otsego County Dairy Princess Megan Wilmot, Cherry Valley, provides wholesome milk to runners at the finish line of the Hall of Fame’s BASE Race Saturday at Doubleday Field, prior to the Coopesrtown Classic. Ambassadors Mikayla Vickerson, Richfield Springs, and Madisyn Reyome, Cherry Valley, assist. For slide show of Classic, visit
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
Committee On Tourist Rentals To Convene 6/8
ONEONTA
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he cost of staffing Otsego County’s economic-development effort is heading from $250,000 a year to zero by summer’s end. The question that remains is how much economic development that will buy. A few weeks ago, Otsego Now’s headquarters on the fifth floor of 189 Main St., Oneonta, included CEO Sandy Mathes and COO Elizabeth Horvath, and newly hired Corey Miglianti, who succeeded Office Administrator Joseph Hughes, who had resigned earlier. When the Otsego Now board of directors met Thursday, May 25, Mathes submitted his resignation, effective – as defined by
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
The Freeman’s Journal
Otsego Now CEO Sandy Mathes is leaving the county Aug. 31.
his agreement with the organization – on Aug. 31. “I have enjoyed the tremendous challenge of this mission,” he said, “transi-
tioning…to the dynamic organization Otsego Now is today.” Horvath had given her notice a month before, and her last day was Friday, May 26. At the meeting, she proposed a $5,000 “retention bonus” for Miglianti if she would remain on the job for Please See TRANSITION, A7
‘He Changed Thinking About What’s Possible’
‘S
andy spent three years building a brand, helping some of our largest communities develop more ambitious visions, and gathering support for larger projects in downtown Oneonta, the Oneonta Rail Yards, and, most recently, Schenevus. “Along the way, he has also taken on regional challenges in energy, broadband, and raising the county’s participation in regional, state, and even federal economic development. It was a very successful engagement that happily coincided with an increase in state economic development grants through the CFA, DRI, and URI processes. “I am proud of Sandy’s work and the projects that he has gotten started and cultivated state support for. He has successfully changed our collective thinking about economic development in Otsego County and what’s really possible.” DEVIN MORGAN Otsego Now board chair, in email briefing Otsego County Board of Representatives (Full text, A4)
COOPERSTOWN
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ith a nine-month moratorium in place, the Village Board’s Committee on Tourist Accommodations’ first meeting will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 8, at Village Hall. The committee will propose revisions to regulations on short-term tourist rentals, to report back to a community forum in four months, said Mayor Jeff Katz. TREASURER HOPEFUL:
Allen Ruffles planned to announce his candidacy for county treasurer at noon Thursday, June 1, in front of the County Office Building. For details of annoucement, check
AllOTSEGO.com
www.
SUMMER LEARNING:
Bassett Hospital is now accepting applications to the Junior Volunteer Program, for students ages 14 to 17. Call Barb Tarka, 547-6691.
VIGIL AT ‘WALL THAT HEALS’
‘They Must Not Be Forgotten’ Dave Rees, well known in Oneonta and Cooperstown, looks for the names of lost Vietnam War comrades at “The Wall That Heals,” which was at Neahwa Park from Thursday, May 25, until Memorial Day.
By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA
W
hen Helen and Dave Rees arrived for their 4 a.m. shift at the Wall That Heals, Helen gave her
MLB Stars Doubted ‘Simpsons’ Prospects 25 Years Later, Homer’s In ‘Hall Of Fame’ By LIBBY CUDMORE COOPERSTOWN
I
n a pre-recorded speech to fans gathered at the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Cooper Park, Nuclear Power Plant right-handed hitter Homer Jay Simpson told the audience to never give up on their dreams. “If the Cubs can win the World Series and a cartoon can enter the Hall of Fame, there are Helen Rees photo no rules,” said the star of Ian Austin/The Freeman’s Journal husband a few minutes alone to look at the “The Simpsons” and, as Cooperstown Mayor Jeff of Saturday, May 27, the Katz joins Homer himself to wall. open Hall of Fame’s “Hom“The first time we went in D.C. I remem- Hall’s newest inductee. er At The Bat” exhibit. As part of the 1992 bered nine people I knew who were killed,” in “The Simpsons” episode, Springfield Nuclear said Dave, who served in the Navy from “Homer at the Bat.” 1966-68. “When it came to Cooperstown, I Power Plant softball team, And the episode’s 25th Homer’s exploits with remembered a few more. Now I know 27 Please See HOMER, A6 Please See WALL, A3 Wonderbat were chronicled
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD