Three-term village of Liverpool Trustee Bob Gaetano has decided against seeking a fourth term in order to spend more time with his family.
Christina Fadden-Fitch, a six-year member of the village Zoning Board of Appeals, is actively seeking the nomination of the Village Republican Committee for the open seat in the June 16 village election. Trustees serve two-year terms and are paid $4,000 annually.
A former principal at Liverpool Middle School, Gaetano, 65, first took office in 2009. After retiring from the Liverpool Central School District in 2008, he served as interim principal for one semester at Liverpool High School and then as interim house principal in the North Syracuse school district.
Gaetano decided against running last week after a series of conversations with Mayor Gary White.
The primary reason, he said, was that he and his wife, Christine, now have four grandchildren ages 3, 4, 5 and 7. Two live in New Hartford, while the others live in Virginia.
“I really do enjoy being a grandpa,” Gaetano added.
Fadden-Fitch, 51, ran for state assembly in 2008 in the 119th district, losing to Democratic incumbent Joan Christensen. In a subsequent assembly run she unsuccessfully opposed Sam Roberts, the current incumbent Democrat in the reconfigured 128th district.
In 2009, Fadden-Fitch briefly considered a run for mayor of Liverpool. Instead, the GOP nomination went to six-term trustee Gary White, who has since served three mayoral terms and will run for re-election in June. White ran an uncontested election for mayor in 2009, turned back an independent challenge by Tom Stack in 2011 and ran unopposed in 2013.
Trustee Dennis Hebert, also a Republican, will seek re-election to his fifth term this year.
A former legislative director for the New York State Right to Life Committee, Fadden-Fitch now works as a community relations coordinator with Brown & Sanford Consulting for Honeywell International on the Onondaga Lake Superfund cleanup and corporate citizenship programs.
The Village Republican Committee will caucus at 6:30 p.m. April 27 at the Village Hall, according to the committee chairman, former Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Bill Sanford.
“So far, Christina is the only person who has expressed interest,” he said.
Any village Republican who would like to run should email Sanford at [email protected].
Any independent candidates for the two village board seats or for mayor must file petitions with the village clerk no later than May 12. The petitions must contain at least 50 signatures of registered village voters. It’s also possible that candidates could mount a write-in campaign for the open offices.
Democrats have failed to field a candidate for village office since 2001. That party, it appears, has not conducted a caucus for the past 14 years.
