Is Cooperstown Democracy Or Aristocracy? Dunn Asks

At Issue: Can Mayor Hold Full Time Job?

3-05-10


By JIM KEVLIN : COOPERSTOWN

‘Chip” Dunn provided the final punctuation mark on the liveliest back-and-forth of the evening.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people is what we call a democracy,” trustee candidate Alton G. Dunn, III, told 100 people at the only Candidates’ Night of this village election season.
“If one class of people is excluded, that is what we call aristocracy.”
Dunn’s job as a math and science teacher at Laurens Central School requires him to be at work weekdays; his running mate, Joseph J. Booan, Jr., a top BOCES administrator, also works full time.
The forum was Monday, March 1, organized by the League of Women Voters, Cooperstown chapter, in the main courtroom of the county courthouse.
The discussion was set in motion by Bill Waller, recently resigned village GOP chair and husband of outgoing Mayor Carol B. Waller.
He pointedly asked mayoral candidate Joseph J. Booan, Jr. – recently promoted from Milford BOCES principal to ONC BOCES director of Career and Technical Education – how he has time for the added responsibilities.  Mayor Waller then followed up.
Booan responded with the saying, “If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know.”
As a BOCES principal, he continued, he was tied to a building and a set schedule to a greater degree.  But his new responsibilities focus on budgeting and program development, which gives him much more flexibility.
Even while principal, he continued, he coached T-ball and youth baseball, coached and served as vice president of the youth football program, served on Cooperstown’s Cotillion Committee, and served on regional and statewide boards and committees.
“I think the bigger question for all of us,” he said, “is:  How do we tap into the larger expertise of our community?”
He suggested moving committee meetings into the evenings, so people who work during the day who wish to attend can, noting, “I think the bigger issue is access.”
Although the question was directed at Republican Booan, the Democratic mayoral candidate, Trustee Jeff Katz, jumped in and took a different tack.
“Instant access is important,” said Katz, a baseball writer and retired trader on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange who lives on Chestnut Street and works out of a home office.
One time, he reported, a piece of molding fell off the library ceiling, and he was able to react instantly to the summons of Brian Clancy, village public works superintendent.
Holding meetings in the evenings, Katz continued, means department heads paid hourly must be paid overtime to attend.  Requiring department heads on salary to attend evening meetings would be an “abuse,” he continued.
An argument for instant access and availability, he noted, was last week’s snow storm, where he was on hand as needed.
At that point, Dunn – who is running on the ticket with Booan and trustee candidate Doug Walker – jumped in, noting that a police department is available 24/7, (a reference to an earlier point of debate.)
Working, said Dunn, keeps him “vitally connected” to the life that most people live:  Holding down a full-time job should be an asset, not a detriment.
The evening, emceed by the League’s Maureen Murray, was the best attended such forum in local memory, moved from the usual site in 22 Main to the courthouse in anticipation of the crowd.
The other Democratic trustee candidates were incumbent Lynne Mebust and Sally Eldred, the retired executive director of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce who moved to Cooperstown five years ago to be near her daughter, Ann, a Bassett physician, and her two granddaughters, who were in the audience.
The Democratic justice candidate, Leslie Friedman, was first to deliver prepared remarks.  Her Republican opponent, Mike Molloy, rushed in at the end of introductory remarks, having driven back to town that day from Richmond, Va., by way of Lancaster, Pa.
Audience member Dan Naughton asked the first question, about keeping the cost of village government down, and that allowed each side to express themes that were repeated through the evening.
Katz, who has been Finance Committee chair as well as deputy mayor, and Mebust talked about seeking new revenues, in particular noting that revenues generated by paid parking in the Doubleday Field lot last summer generate the equivalent of a 6.7 percent property-tax increase.
Katz also mentioned that his idea of creating and licensing a Doubleday Field logo may generate additional funds.  Plus, attracting movie crews and charging a location fee – as much as a half-million-dollars in Buffalo recently – is another option.
For his part, Booan, echoed by Dunn, recommended keeping an eye on expenses, and using savings for specific projects, such as repairing streets and sidewalks.
While tax increases have averaged 4.7 percent over the past five years, expenses have increased an average of 6 percent, untenable long-term, he said.
As a school administrator, he said, he managed a multi-million budget and more than 100 employees, skills that would allow closer oversight of village operations.
“And grants,” he added, “are game-changers.”