County Supervisors Updated On Fort Addition

SCHOHARIE County — It's a pretty exciting time for the museums in Schoharie County.

At the Friday, July 18 Schoharie County Board of Supervisors meeting, new County Museum Director and Business Manager Mary Johnson updated the BOS on a $3 million, 5,000 square-foot addition to the Badgley Museum Annex on Fort Road in Schoharie. The facility, owned by the Schoharie County Historical Society, is right across the street from the county-owned Old Stone Fort Museum.

Johnson, who was appointed to the $74,974 a year position by the BOS last month, said construction of the first phase of the addition was started in April and hopefully will be finished by the end of the year. The first phase is using $1.7 million in funds that had been raised so far, including significant donations from the late local benefactors Chester Zimmer and Nick Juried.

When entirely completed, the three-story addition will include an archival research library, archival storage, 3-D storage, office space, a kitchen, five bathrooms (including three that are ADA accessible) and an outdoor patio area, Johnson said.

A completion date on the entire project is uncertain because $1.3 million for Phase Two needs to be raised through donations, fundraising events, grants or other sources, she added.

County Attorney Mike West, also on the historical society board, said Johnson has "brought a new vitality" to the museums.

"It's refreshing to see the people who work there, you can tell they love their jobs," added county BOS Chairman Bill Federice.

"In museum work, if you're not having fun, you're not doing it right," Johnson responded.

Before returning to Schoharie County, Johnson was a STEM Educator at the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pa. for two and a half years. She has lived in Cobleskill for most of her life, graduating from Cobleskill-Richmondville High School in 2016.

In other news from the July 18 meeting, County Supervisors also heard an update from Cassandra Harrington of Destination Marketing on her efforts to promote tourism and boost tourism revenue in Schoharie County.

"We're promoting Schoharie County as a great place to go birding," she said.

Among many other initiatives, Harrington said Destination Marketing recently partnered with Schoharie Land Trust on trail maps and has joined the Schoharie Community Hub, a collection of nonprofits. The marketing firm is also working on promotions for the upcoming annual Schoharie County Sunshine Fair at the Cobleskill Fairgrounds Aug. 5-10, Harrington noted.

"We're up to great things," she said.

The Supervisors also approved a resolution urging New York State Governor Kathy Hochul to veto Senate Bill 8012. It would amend the Real Property Tax Law 575b to modify the methodology for assessing industrial solar and wind energy projects and related facilities by requiring the use of a discounted cash flow approach.

The resolution said vetoing the bill would "preserve the ability and rights of local governments to generate fair and reasonable tax revenues resulting from industrial wind and solar energy developments."