By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
The village of North Syracuse welcomed a fresh face to its board of trustees last week. Mayor Gary Butterfield appointed Artemas Steere to fill the seat of former Trustee Chuck Henry, who retired to Florida earlier this summer.
“I’m excited that we have some youth [on the board],” Butterfield told the Star-Review.
Steere has lived in North Syracuse with his wife, Mollie, for about two years. He graduated from Alfred University in 2015 with a bachelor of science in ceramics materials engineering. He works for Lockheed Martin. Steere served on the planning board in his hometown, the village of Alfred.
“My mom always said that people care about national politics, but local politics affect everyday life,” Steere said. “They have more effect on how I’m going to live in my particular house.”
Butterfield said Steere began attending village board meetings and expressed an interest in the goings-on of the village, so he approached him about becoming a trustee.
“There’s people that wanted to be trustees, but I was looking for youth,” Butterfield said.
Butterfield said many young people have recently joined the village department of public works, North Syracuse Police Department and North Syracuse Fire Department, so he felt the village board needed some rejuvenation as well.
“I thought … we probably need to do the same because we’re aging out — both the Democrats and the Republicans in the village,” Butterfield said.
Steere said the appointment would be a good trial run for himself and his constituents. He has not yet decided if he will run to keep the seat next June.
“For this year, I’m expecting to help the board run smoothly,” he said. “I haven’t been elected before so it’s a great trial period.”
Steere, who enjoys woodworking and pottery making, said he is looking forward to familiarizing himself with the issues facing the village. He said the village seems financially sound and he wants to help it stay that way without compromising services to residents.
“I want to make sure that the benefits that living in the village provides are not lost with the taxes,” he said.
One item Steere wants to tackle is abandoned properties in the village, which often can become eyesores. He suggested the village could organize volunteer cleanup days or seek grants to aid with cleanup.
Steere said he wants to “help the community help itself” and encourage residents to come together.
“We all live in the same place. Everybody talks about people being part of the same community,” he said. “Let’s be the community that lives together, works together.”
