Outgoing Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek says he always knew he wanted to serve only one term in office. His theory was that he would be a more effective leader and able to make bold decisions without having to give thought to re-election.
The job, which comes with a four-year term and a stipend of $15,000 a year, became a full-time endeavor, starting when he was sworn in as mayor in January 2022. His term will conclude Jan. 1 when Dan Buttermann is scheduled to be sworn in as mayor.
Speaking with The Daily Star last week, Drnek said he felt he did what he set out to do — pursue changes in Oneonta’s civic life that lead to population growth, increased economic opportunity and better quality of life for city residents.
He began by campaigning on a promise to grow the city’s population by 1,000 people. Along the way, he faced challenges in measuring this growth empirically, but according to population demographic information provided by Drnek from several real estate sources, Otsego County’s population stabilized at around 60,636 since 2020 after a decade of decline, with net migration growth of about 3% to 4% post-2020.
He said there’s been a replacement of an older demographic with a younger one, attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on work-from-home trends and Oneonta’s attractiveness due to the lower cost of living than metro areas of the state and increased awareness of environmental concerns.
“What the data shows is that we’re adding young people,” Drnek said. “We had been trending down, and now we’re up and in what looks like stasis, but it’s not. It’s a replacement, essentially, of an older demographic with a younger demographic.”
Along with simply growing the population, Drnek said, he emphasized the need for concurrent efforts in urban development and community engagement.
“You have to provide a city that is safe and welcoming and interesting,” he said, “because people are going to want to stay in the city if there’s something to do, and if there’s nothing to do, you will move. I know that from having worked with as many young people that I couldn’t keep here as I did.”
Another area Drnek focused on as mayor was addressing the impact of relationships with local businesses and property developers. He said he faced making some unpopular decisions for the city’s long-term success, such as redeveloping Market Street — bringing down the parking garage, building the transit hub, renovating Water Street and trying to sell 27 Market St.
After the Common Council voted down his proposal to redevelop 27 Market St. through Rehabilitation Support Services Inc. into a mixed-use building, there’s now the potential to bring 90 to 100 apartments on Market Street through a partnership with Grow America.
The city also has been making progress with the Oneonta Veterans Outreach Center and the potential transfer of ownership of the Armory building to the Utica Center for Development. He said the center’s staff has 135 open cases, showing progress in addressing homelessness.
“When you look on Main Street now, and you see that there’s a whole lot less folks that look like they are underserved,” Drnek said, “a lot of those folks are vets, and you don’t see them now because Gary (Flaherty) and the rest of the crew, they’re taking care of them.”
Although his Downtown Renaissance didn’t quite have the impact he anticipated, Drnek leaves in place some ongoing efforts to improve the city’s infrastructure and amenities, like the Oneonta Community Initiative.
He said the program, which awards grants of up to $1,000 for free community events and activities, “was a campaign promise that I had to push hard for in my first few months. I was the tie-breaking vote for its implementation.”
He said there’s also a Business Improvement District in discussions now, being facilitated by Caroline Williams, SUNY Oneonta’s director of community affairs and government relations.
Another piece of Drnek’s legacy is increased activity in Muller Plaza. The completion of the Al Gallodoro Memorial Stage and its first season of summer concerts, along with the FOR-DO plaza ambassadors program, have contributed to a much more engaging downtown experience.
Drnek said he plans to stay involved in civic activities but not in city politics, focusing on initiatives “that don’t require five votes,” a reference to the minimum number of votes needed to pass a vote of the Common Council.
He expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve as mayor and the positive changes observed during his term.
“It really, truly is an unbelievable honor to be able to be the elected leader of the city,” he said. “There’s been some stuff that’s changed, and some of that I’ve taken a hit on. Fair or unfair, it’s OK, it is what it is. But you can’t argue with the fact that we’re different now than we were four years ago, and that we’re trending in the right direction.”