Let’s help Mike Covert out

Asking for a friend.  My old partner at the Otsego County Sheriff’s Office needs our help and he needs it now.  Anyone who has met Michael K. Covert over the years knows that he would do anything for anyone and not expect a thing in return.  Mike has dedicated his life to helping others and now he needs our assistance.  

For nearly four decades, Michael has proudly served his country and the residents of Otsego County.  He was an active member of the Hartwick Fire Department and Emergency Squad for over 20 years.  In 1980, Mike enlisted in the US Army and enjoyed a 15 year career in the combat-heavy engineering group.  He started his law enforcement journey in 1986 at the Otsego County Sheriff’s Department as a  correctional officer.  In 1989, Michael joined the Cooperstown Police Department as a part-time police officer and later left the OCSD in 1993 to work full-time at the CPD where he specialized in teaching DARE at the Cooperstown Elementary School.  

In 2000, he returned to his roots at the OCSO as a deputy sheriff and was promoted to Investigator in the Criminal Investigation Division in 2007 where he worked until his retirement in 2011.  Mike was hired as the CPD  Chief of Police in 2012 and actively held that position until this past fall when his health took a turn for the worse.  During his tenure as police chief, Mike
started the first “Angel”(PAARI) program in NYS to combat the opioid epidemic and helped other law enforcement agencies establish their life saving programs.  

A failed kidney, cardiac procedures and a surgery, along with other serious health-related issues, have sidelined Mike.  Otsego County cut off his health benefits after eight years of retirement and the Village of Cooperstown won’t allow him to enroll in their health plan as he has been on unpaid administrative leave since the fall of 2018.  Mike is presently in the final pre-transplant testing stage for the kidney transplant list at the Albany Medical Center and has huge monthly health related expenses and deductibles for appointments, procedures, co-pays, travel and prescriptions.   A month without government healthcare has also put Mike in a huge financial hardship.

Your generous contribution will help support  a long-standing community member, dedicated civil servant and honorably discharged veteran.