Unless a last-minute write-in campaign materializes, Liverpool Mayor Gary White will be elected to his fifth term on June 20. Village mayoral terms are for two years each, same as terms for trustees.
Ten years seems like a long time, and I wondered if White may be the longest-serving mayor in Liverpool’s history. In fact, three other mayors actually served for ten years or more.
The last mayor to serve five terms was Oliver Masters, from 1967 to 1977.
Masters was immediately preceded by two men who served even longer. Michael Heid was first elected in 1934 and voters returned him to office seven more times until Ray Grandy took over for eight terms, 1951 to 1967.
White, a Republican, is a retired Syracuse Police Department deputy chief who oversaw general services, records keeping and the uniform bureau before retiring to work in the automotive industry. He served six terms as a village trustee and became deputy mayor during the Marlene Ward administration.
He first ran for mayor in 2009 when he prevailed over independent candidate Tom Stack by a vote of 291 to 154. In three subsequent elections White ran unopposed as he will again this month.
So with 12 years as a trustee and eight more as mayor, White has already logged two decades in village government.
On June 20, two other Liverpool Republicans are running unopposed for trustee — incumbent Christina Fadden Fitch is up for her second term and newcomer Jason Recor seeks his first term on the village board.
First mayor elected 1925
While the village was incorporated in 1830, its first mayor wasn’t elected until 95 years later, according to Village Historian Dorianne Elitharp Gutierrez. “From 1830 to 1925, trustees were elected annually to govern the village,” she said. “Each year, the trustees chose one of their own number to serve as president.” That man then presided over the trustees’ meetings.
Liverpool’s first mayor was Irving Fairchild, who served four terms from 1925 to 1933. Peter Beneke served a single term, 1933-34, before Michael Heid began his 16-yea run from 1934 to 1951. Ray Grandy tied him for the village’s longest-serving mayor, serving eight terms from 1951 to 1967.
Ollie Masters was mayor for a decade, 1967-77 before Floyd Tillotson served two terms, 1977-81. James Moore took over for three terms from 1981 to 1987 followed by Jon Zappola, the lone non-Republican to ever become mayor here. Zappola served one term from 1987 to 1989, followed by Al Sahm ,who served two terms (1989-93) and Fred Bobenhausen, who also served two terms (1993-97).
Jim Farrell was elected mayor in 1997 and served two terms until 2001. That year, Marlene Black Ward became Liverpool’s first female mayor when she turned back a challenge by former Mayor Zappola. Ward remained in office for four terms, until White was elected in 2009.
Gary White is the 13th mayor of Liverpool.
L’pool’s AHL goal judge
As American Hockey League Eastern Division champions, the Syracuse Crunch, battle Western Division champs, the Grand Rapids Griffins, for possession of the Calder Cup this week, Liverpool’s John Mackenzie is keeping his eye on the goal line. Mackenzie serves as goal judge, usually positioned at the stage-side goal at the War Memorial Arena.
John works a day job as manager of Nichols Discount Liquors on First Street, but at the hockey games his workspace is a three-by-three-foot Plexiglas room. It’s about six feet tall, like a phone booth without a phone. A stool is its only furniture.
Mackenzie will be encased in his Plexiglas cage for game three of the Calder Cup Playoffs Finals at, 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 7, game four at 7 p.m. Friday, June 9, at the War Memorial, and for game five, if necessary, at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 10.
The finals began June 2 when the Crunch lost a heartbreaker 3-2 in Grand Rapids. If the series goes to games six and seven, those two face-offs would take place in Michigan.
NY’s ‘heirloom’ music
Casual singers, music teachers, history teachers and folk musicians can explore the music of the Erie Canal when musician and NY Public Scholar Dave Ruch conducts a workshop at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 15, at the Erie Canal Museum, down city.
Ruch, a member of the Canal Street String Band, has spent the last 15 years researching the traditional music of the Empire State, with a special focus on the Erie Canal.
“The music that people made on the canal was that of Irish immigrants, Yankee farmers and fiddlers, minstrel show performers, the vaudeville circuit and the boatmen and -women themselves,” he said. He calls it “heirloom music.”
So bring an instrument, a singing voice, a recording device or just your own self and join Dave for a really fun and interesting evening on June 15. Tickets cost $15, and the Erie Canal Museum is located at 318 Erie Blvd. East, in Syracuse; eriecanalmuseum.org or (315) 471-0593
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