By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

The Baldwinsville Village Board of Trustees welcomed back one of its famed alumni with the Oct. 19 appointment of Andy Dryden. A former trustee and mayor, Dryden will fill the seat of former Trustee Rick Presley.

Mayor Dick Clarke said he asked the trustees for recommendations for an appointee after Presley resigned in August due to health issues.

“I had asked the board if they knew anybody [interested], even former board members,” Clarke said.

Clarke said he thought of Dryden and his wealth of experience. Dryden served as a trustee and mayor of the village of Baldwinsville from 1993 to 2005.

“Normally, I would say no,” Dryden said of accepting the appointment, “but seeing as it was Rick’s seat … Actually, he’s the one that got me on the board.”

Per the minutes of the March 17, 2005, meeting of the board of trustees, Presley said he “wanted to congratulate himself for asking [then-]Mayor Dryden to serve on the village board.”

Andy Dryden is married to Wendy Clarke Dryden, the mayor’s sister. Clarke said there is a precedent for relatives serving on the board.

“We’ve had that before when two Saracenis were on the board, Tony and Joe,” Clarke said.

Village attorney Bob Baldwin told the Messenger he saw no conflict in Dryden’s appointment.

“It’s an appointment by the mayor subject to the approval of the board,” Baldwin said. “I don’t see that as an issue.”

Dryden’s appointment lasts through March 2018. In next year’s village election, the mayor’s seat and three trustee positions will on the ballot.

NWFD presents Station No. 3 plan

Also at the Oct. 19 meeting, the village board opened a public hearing on the Northwest Fire District’s application to renovate the former shopping center at 117 Oswego St. to construct a new fire station. The building is currently zoned Business District (B-1), so the NWFD must seek the village’s approval of their proposed use of the site.

In 2015, voters turned down the fire district’s proposition to build a new fire station on Smokey Hollow Road and add on to Station No. 1 on Crego Road.

The proposed Station No. 3 on Oswego Street would be a substation mainly for bunk-ins from Onondaga Community College, and would allow for bailout training, rappelling or other exercises. NWFD Chief Tom Perkins said the bulk of the district’s training takes place at Station 1.

The public hearing will continue at the Nov. 2 meeting of the Village Board of Trustees. Look for more details on the project in next week’s Messenger.