A familiar face may be returning to the Oneonta Common Council.
On Tuesday, Aug. 20, Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek said he plans to nominate Edmund Overbey to the anticipated Seventh Ward seat vacancy on the council, despite the objections of residents who support another candidate.
Bryce Wooden, D-Seventh Ward, announced two weeks ago his intention step down from the council in September because he plans to move to another city ward.
Drnek said he plans to make the nomination Sept. 17. Neither Overbey nor Wooden attended Tuesday’s council meeting.
Wooden was elected to the seat last November. If appointed, Overbey would serve for 16 months
It wouldn’t be the first time Overbey took over the Seventh Ward seat from a departing council member. He served as an interim representative from July 2023 until Wooden’s election, appointed by Drnek when John Rafter vacated the seat.
Drnek said Tuesday that he chose Overbey due to his past “exceptional” experience on the council.
“Ed (Overbey) was always courteous, well considered, well informed, pragmatic and committed to and honored by the duty,” Drnek said. “When Bryce (Wooden) provided me with a heads up on his likely move out of the ward a few months ago, I reached out to Ed (Overbey) and he graciously accepted my request that he serve as a bookend, until the Seventh Ward could be engaged in a campaign and a vote for their preferred candidate.”
Wooden said during his resignation announcement that he would like to see Seventh Ward resident Carolyn Marks fill his seat.
Eight members of the public petitioned the council supporting Marks for the seat, highlighting her qualifications and community involvement.
Some speakers argued that the precedent set for appointing a candidate endorsed by a council member should be followed, citing the past example of Drnek nominating Elaine Mosher Campoli to fill the First Ward seat. Mosher Campoli was the preferred candidate of outgoing member Luke Murphy, who stepped down in June.
Others brought up the fact that Marks has been public in her opposition of the proposed RSS project at 27 Market St. — a plan to develop the site into a multi-use building that could include affordable housing and mental health services, which Drnek still supports.
Drnek said that he wants to reintroduce the proposal for a vote at the council’s second January meeting, and that he has “never asked a council member how they will vote on the sale of city property at 27 Market Street.”
“Of course, I have a sense of how people may be leaning,” he said. “I know that Ed (Overbey) is unconvinced about PILOTs in general, but I think he is as likely a supporter as Bryce (Wooden) indicated that he might be during our Hartwick College forum last spring, but I don’t know.”
Marks said that she wanted to be appointed to the Seventh Ward council seat, based on her background teaching and tutoring youth and adults and her other public service, including her current position as chairperson of the city Parks and Recreation Commission. She also has been nominated to populate the city’s Board of Ethics.
“I feel that I deserve the same consideration by the mayor and council,” she said. “I’m really disappointed about this process, because you (Drnek) never sought me out and asked anything about my consideration after Bryce (Wooden) told you, a month earlier, that he was recommending and endorsing me.”
Drnek said that the first time he heard that Wooden wanted Marks to fill the seat was during his resignation announcement.
Speaker Kathy Varardi said she wanted a special election for the Seventh Ward seat.
City Attorney David Merzig said that he would consider a request from council if members asked for advice on a special election.