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February 2, 2012

Bliss to retire from Otsego County post

BY JOE MAHONEY

THE DAILY STAR

A mainstay of Otsego County government, planner Terry Bliss, has informed the Board of Representatives that he will be retiring in late March.

Bliss, 56, confirmed that he will be capping his career after nearly 35 years as a county government employee. It all began in 1977, he said, after he graduated from the State University College at Oneonta. He took a job as a $2.30-an-hour aide in the county planning department. “You know when the time is right, and now I have some other ambitious things to do,” Bliss said.

He said he will begin looking to purchase a home in Florida. His wife, an English teacher at Cooperstown High School, also named Terry, plans to retire from her job in June, after a career spanning 35 years.

“My wife and I have known for a long time that when it comes time to retire we’d like to spend some time down South,” Bliss said. “We have been setting our sights on Florida to be our winter home.”

The couple plans to keep their home in Cooperstown. “Once we get settled in, we’d like to travel around the country,” Bliss said. “My ambition is to hike the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine.”

Bliss has been at the center of a number of projects facing the county, including leading the way for the county to exit MOSA -- the Montgomery- Otsego-Schoharie Solid Waste Management Authority.

He has also been part of the effort to construct a countywide road preservation program that now stands ready to hold heavy industry accountable for damage to highways and byways. Bliss has also guided the county in preparing for the possible advent of the natural gas industry seeking to drill through shale formations.

“It’s going to be very tough to fill Terry’s shoes,” Board of Representatives Chairwoman Kathleen Clark, R-Otego, said. “Whenever you gave Terry a job to do, you could always be assured it would be done. He never balked at anything.”

Also praising Bliss was Rep. Rich Murphy, D-Town of Oneonta.

“Terry is the go-to guy for a long time in most matters that relate to county government,” Murphy said. “His is a department that we always rely on to shoulder some new responsibility. He always does his work with grace and competence. He is certainly going to be missed when he does leave.”

Bliss generally keeps his policy opinions to himself. But when he was reminded he is now a short-timer, he agreed to share his view on whether county government should hire a county manager to oversee its day-to-day operations.

“Personally, I think the time has come when a central manager could make Otsego County government more efficient,” he said. “I think department heads are faced with frustrations, and I think county board members are faced with frustrations from the inefficiency of having to hold monthly meetings to conduct routine business.”

As for the controversy over hydraulic fracturing, Bliss said, “I put my faith in the professionals at the DEC (the state Department of Environmental Conservation). I feel that their very deliberative work is representative of their cautious approach. I would put faith in the regulatory process.”

Bliss also said he hopes he will be succeeded in his job by his top aide, senior planner Karen Sullivan. She is being supported for the position by the county board’s intergovernmental affairs committee.

The ultimate decision will be up to the Board of Representatives, he said.

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