Instead of dissolving the Village of Cobleskill, how about getting rid of the town instead?
That’s just one of the ideas batted around “like balls in a pinball machine” at a special daytime meeting called by Mayor Mark Nadeau Monday.
Broached as another look at the 2008 Center for Governmental Research study, the meeting covered everything from a “coterminous” Cobleskill to how to get a bigger share of sales tax revenues to marketing Guilford Mills.
Cobleskill “needs to have one director of the ship,” said Mayor Nadeau, arguing a “coterminus” relationship between the town and village would lead to efficiencies of scale.
According to the state Department of State, a coterminous town-village is a consolidated municipality.
The town and village share the same boundaries and depending on how it’s formed, the same person could be both mayor and supervisor; village trustees could also be town councilmen.
“The village is the better form of government,” Mayor Nadeau said, because it’s used to handling services—like water, sewer, and police—and delivering them.
Mayor Nadeau also pointed out to the crowd of about 30 that if the village should pursue and then vote on dissolution, Cobleskill residents living outside the village won’t have a say in the decision.
“To me, the town supervisor should be the mayor,” he added.
Town Supervisor Tom Murray disagreed,
“I disagree a lot,” he said.
‘I think you’re all over the place…It’s another layer of government we don’t need.”
Mr. Murray asked why nothing has been done to extend village water to the town and criticized the village for transferring most of its expenses, along with the Street Department, to the town—a move both municipalities agreed on.
Mayor Nadeau said he’d like to see a third party committee look into a coterminous village-town arrangement, along with dissolving the village.
Several in the audience suggested aligning the village’s and town’s comprehensive plans, with help from County Planning, as a first step.
Others weren’t so sure.
“I think we’re going to the moon for no reason,” said Joe Kerr. “We just need to save money. We don’t need to be split apart.”