GLOVERSVILLE - While opinions vary on whether the squabbling among Fulton County municipalities that could doom the city's Walmart Supercenter project could also hurt the county's future economic development efforts, most agree cooperation among municipalities improves the chances of the county landing such projects.

Johnstown Mayor Sarah Slingerland has said her Common Council doesn't intend to approve sewer service sought for seven parcels related to the Walmart Supercenter project in Gloversville that the retailer says it needs to move the project forward. Walmart disputes the city of Johnstown's contention that it only needs to approve sewer for one of eight parcels sought - the Fulton County Federal Credit Union - to keep the project moving.

The council already has approved that connection, but now the town of Johnstown has threatened to sue the city of Johnstown because the town wants to establish a sewer district that could spur development on town land around the supercenter site.

Meanwhile, the city of Gloversville waits in the wings - hearing from Walmart that it may pull the project bordered by Hales Mills Road and South Kingsboro Avenue Extension. The supercenter was expected to employ about 200 people.

The Fulton County Economic Development Corp., which solicits companies to move into the area, relies on promotion of the area to attract new business.

EDC Executive Vice President Jeff Bray said Tuesday the municipal infighting hasn't shown up in a negative way yet on his economic development radar.

"It has not, at this point," Bray said. "It hasn't manifested itself in any type of reaction."

But Bray is quick to point out the recession has hit New York state hard and times are slow anyway. Still, he said he has recently spotted the Army Corps of Engineers at the supercenter site, which he said is good news for the project.

Slingerland said today the face of economic development may be changing anyway, and it may benefit the internal parts of cities more. She didn't directly answer the question of whether her city's stance is hurting area economic development's bigger picture, but talked more about trends.

"I've actually been thinking about this this morning," the mayor said.

Slingerland said she's monitoring development activity on the state and federal levels, and grants and Payments In Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, agreements are being designed to appeal more to the "internal growth" in cities instead of on the outskirts.

"I'm thinking about where we're going with all of this on a larger scale,' Slingerland said.

Ten years ago, the Fulton County Industrial Development Agency helped build the Crossroads Business Park, which has had little activity other than the Epimed medical devices company.

IDA Executive Director James Mraz answered the question of whether the Walmart disagreement is hurting local economic development by noting the county's successes the past 20 years occurred when the towns and cities looked at the bigger picture.

"Our successes with economic development have in large part been based upon a high level of cooperation and working together among all the municipalities to achieve the common good of making Fulton County a better place to do business," Mraz said.

He said it "remains to be seen" if whatever happens to the Walmart project squelches future cooperation. But Mraz said cooperation is "imperative" to move any development engine forward.

Gloversville Mayor-elect Dayton King, a Northville native, agrees that municipal cooperation is imperative to help a project like the Walmart Supercenter come to fruition. But he also said officials in the county have to consider more sweeping changes such as municipal consolidation to help the county be more successful.

He said changing the Sewer Use Law could be looked at, or more importantly, studying further efforts at combining the cities of Gloversville and Johnstown and the town of Johnstown into "one city" could enhance future development.

King said if those layers of government had been combined to begin with, Walmart "would have been here sooner" and the store would be open by now. He said he would like to see more cooperation to the point of turning the county, with the attractions of its lakes, into more of a true destination for tourists.

"I think we could be another Glens Falls or Lake George," King said.

He said too much local haggling results in municipalities engaging in quid pro quo agreements in which something can only be achieved if both sides get their issues approved.

"I think too much of that happens," King said.

Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at johnstown@leaderherald.com.