The Oneonta Common Council put forth ideas for reservoir sustainability, summer cooling efforts and year-round recreation opportunity during its Tuesday, March 3 work session.
Don Mathisen, D-Eighth Ward, asked how the city could increase the capacity of its reservoir. Director of Public Works Chris Yacobucci said dredging was an option, but it would be expensive.
Scott Harrington, R-Sixth Ward, said because evaporation is part of the problem related to reservoir capacity, Oneonta could look into using black plastic balls that absorb the sun.
He said Friday, March 6 that the evaporation balls would float on the water’s surface and prevent sunlight from hitting the water, decreasing water loss to the reservoir.
Continuing with discussion on infrastructure, Carolyn Marks, D-Seventh Ward, said at first she was “skeptical” about water and sewer increases.
“It really makes a lot of sense because that goes right back into our infrastructure,” Marks said.
Switching subjects slightly, Kaytee Lipari Shue, D-Fourth Ward, said the city does not have any cooling centers. The city pool has barriers to entry, as individuals need to provide identification and non-city residents have to pay.
“I think both of those things are valid, but it just makes it not really effective for cooling during an extremely hot day,” Lipari Shue.
The YMCA runs the pool under YMCA regulations, Lipari Shue said. Everybody who enters the pool needs to be run through the sex offender registry, which is why identification is required.
As the city has spent a lot of time this winter considering its response to extreme cold, she said, it needs to begin planning a response to extreme heat, “seriously and with some real results” Lipari Shue said she wanted to include this topic in the infrastructure conversation because it is often “under considered.”
An idea that gained traction in the past was using the buses as a cooling centers, said Elayne Mosher Campoli, D-First Ward. She added that a barrier to this idea is that the city cannot give away free rides. Harrington said Broome County had enacted this program.
According to a June Broome County news release, BC Transit was offering free rides on the buses “to help people stay safe and cool.”
Mathisen said the bus could be parked at a terminal, and people could sit inside. Mosher Campoli said Broome County was offering rides, which is a “more sustainable model,” as running a parked bus for cooling purposes “raises a lot of environmental red flags.” She said the city could look into how a municipality like Broome County overcame the cost barrier to replicate it in Oneonta.
This addresses a broader need for a detailed emergency plan for extreme weather events, said Cecelia Walsh-Russo, D-Second Ward. She added that a cooling center could be part of the heat management plan for the city, something the Climate Smart Community Task Force could work on.
Toward the end of the work session, council members brought some ideas to the table under the “something new” category.
Mayor Dan Buttermann said he would like to expand sports tourism in the city beyond baseball season, potentially with the addition of a sports dome, which could also serve heating and cooling needs.
Walsh-Russo said she was reflecting earlier on the “dearth of recreational activities that we have available to us” during the winter. She said it could be helpful to form a plan for winter activities the city could “be in some kind of sponsorship for,” including Oneonta’s trail system, promoting cross country skiing and “creating a recreational space for ice skating.”
“I think the city needs to reinvest in recreation programs all year round,” Lipari Shue said.
She added that one of the main goals of the Community Wellness Committee, which was was disbanded at the start of the yea, was “breaking the cycle of addiction in our community.” Activity, especially for kids, solves a few different problems, Lipari Shue said.
Kids could be involved outside of school activities, and parents could worry less about what their kids were doing during the summer, she said, adding that year-round recreation should be a priority moving forward.
Marks, who used to run recreational programs in the city, said during the summer the Recreation Department partnered with the Oneonta City School District, operating programs for about eight weeks in the summer. Kids would participate in sports events and Olympic-style activities. In the winter, each elementary school hosted programming as well, along the same wavelength as the summer activities.
Summer employment is another benefit, Lipari Shue said.
“The parks were full,” Marks said.