Common Council expresses concern over COVID's return

Vicky Klukkert, The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
·2 min read

Aug. 4—The recent uptick in COVID-19 cases had the Oneonta Common Council worried during Tuesday night's meeting.

"We are all concerned about the new variant," Mayor Gary Herzig said. "We are monitoring the cases at the county level. It's not alarming, but it's getting worse. For many days in June and July the county was seeing zero cases per day. The last seven days there have been 31 cases. This trend is concerning."

Herzig continued to say people who aren't vaccinated should remember to wear their masks inside and if they can, to please get vaccinated.

"We all said in January it would be a race between the variants and the vaccine," he said. "In May, it looked like the vaccines were going to win, now it's the variant. There are a large number of people in the county not vaccinated."

According to the New York state COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker, 75.6% of New Yorkers over the age of 18 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to 63.2% of those 18 and older in Otsego County.

"The county is significantly lower than the state and country," Herzig said. "I will monitoring the situation carefully."

Council Member Mark Drnek asked if the city would require all employees to get vaccinated like the state and federal government employees.

"Nothing is off the table," Herzig responded.

Council Member Mark Davies wanted to know if any of the 31 cases were breakthrough cases. Herzig said he hadn't heard.

Herzig said that the Bassett Medical Center ICU was nearly full, but there was only one COVID-19 case in the ICU.

After the mayor's report, the council breezed through its consent agenda:

—The board voted to create a capital project fund in the amount of $370,000 for the Catella Well Raw Water Transmission Main Replacement project. Herzig explained that the water main near Catella Field in Neahwa Park burst last year and needs to be replaced. The well is the backup water supply for the city when the reservoir gets too low, he said.

—The board also approved a $308,000 bid to Vacri Construction of Binghamton, for the Railroad Avenue and Neahwa Park Sanitary Sewer Main Replacement capital project. The council created a $370,000 budget for the project with $120,000 coming from contributions from the sewer fund in the 2021 budget and $250,000 coming from the sewer fund balance.

—During the meeting Council Member Kaytee Lipari Shue announced that the Properties of Merit nominations are due by Thursday, Aug. 5. Anyone who would like to nominate a home or business can email her at kliparishue@oneonta.ny.us or on her Council Member Kaytee Facebook page.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.