Opinion: Holmes Ready to Strengthen Cobleskill, Move Past Dissolution

After years of passionate debate over former Mayor Mark Galasso's proposal to dissolve the Village of Cobleskill into either the Town government, or an incredibly far-fetched idea that sought to create the "City of Cobleskill," residents of the county's economic and population hub can now look toward the future of their municipality without the constant drumbeat of self-destruction that their previous administration was so fond of pounding. 

 

It goes without saying that the Schoharie News is pleased with last month's election of former Village Trustee Linda Holmes to not only serve as Mayor of Cobleskill, but also as a promoter of stronger and more interactive government within the community. A vision Mayor Holmes started working on day one with the creation of an official facebook page for Village government, resembling that of Middleburgh's, in order to dually inform the public of government related news and community events.

 

While it is not earth shattering, it is definitely a small step in the right direction by signaling her administration is concerned with the promotion and strength of the community at large, whereas her predecessor was intent on its unequivocal dissolution despite the public and the data showing it was counter productive and based on the false premise of cost savings.

 

Only time will reveal whether Mayor Holmes term is successful in strengthening the community and putting the ill-conceived idea of dissolution behind them, but after eight years of either unpopular mayors or unconstructive administrations ranging from that of Michael Sellers to Mark Nadeau to finally Mark Galasso holding reign of Cobleskill, she can only lead the Village toward a better position than it has been.

 

What do you think?

Setting Our Sights on Cobleskill's Mayoral Race

Following the success of our interview series with this fall's sheriff candidates, we have decided to reach out to the candidates in the county's second most important race: Cobleskill's mayoral race between incumbent Mark Galasso and Village Trustee Linda Holmes.

 

Although often over-shadowed in significance by its town counterpart, the Village of Cobleskill is both the economic and political hub of Schoharie County - its decisions on pivotal issues such as Guilford Mills, economic development, dissolution and police enforcement - set the standard for an area lacking effective leadership.

 

Which is why this fall's election between Mr. Galasso and Mrs. Holmes will have such a significant impact on not only residents of Cobleskill, but the county's political realm as a whole. And thus our interest in discovering more about these two vastly different candidates.

 

We have already reached out and interviewed Mrs. Holmes and have not yet received a response from an email sent to Mr. Galasso's account, but we hope to hear back soon and have a conversation with him as well.

Will Dissolution Sink Galasso's Re-election?

With the Village of Middleburgh dissolution vote still in mind, which went down in flames 71-344 last February, it begs the question: will the defeat of former Mayor Gary Hayes' unpopular dissolution petition in Middleburgh have any effect on Cobleskill Mayor Mark Galasso's bid for reelection in his municipality?

Mr. Galasso's defining position during his time in elected office, as both Village Trustee and Mayor, has been to push for the dissolution or consolidation of his municipality into either the town's government apparatus or the [unlikely] creation of a City of Cobleskill, which in New York is as likely as a Republican winning a single electoral vote: not going to happen.

Which brings us to this fall's Mayoral election between Mr. Galasso and Mrs. Linda Holmes, who serves as a Village Trustee and has been an outspoken opponent of Mr. Galasso's efforts, in light of both Middleburgh's overwhelming vote against Mr. Hayes petition and acknowledgment that dissolution or consolidation would lead to few savings or reduction in Cobleskill's public workforce (Cobleskill Times Journal: May 7th, 2013 edition).

It goes without saying Mr. Galasso's signature issue has taken a significant blow because (a.) his own findings are that dissolution will have little to no savings for Cobleskill taxpayers, (b.) the creation of a city government is impossible and (c.) a smaller municipality just 10 miles away saw over 80% of their citizenry vote against the exact same proposal, due to pesky facts that costs would just be shifted to town government and instead of two moderate tax bills they would receive one giant collection in the mail.

What effect will this have on November's election? Only time and the respective campaigns will tell... What say you?