Three seats are up for election on the Baldwinsville Village Board of Trustees. The village of Baldwinsville will hold an election from noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday, March 18, at Village Hall, located at 16 W. Genesee St.
The nominations for the three trustee vacancies are as follows: Bruce W. Stebbins, Village Party; Megan E. O’Donnell, Village Party; Michael G. Shepard, Village Party; and Dennis N. Sick, Main Street Party. The term for a Village Trustee is four years.
Absentee ballot applications can be picked up at Village Hall or call 315-635-3521 to make other arrangements.
Read on to meet the candidates, who are listed in alphabetical order by last name:
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Megan O’Donnell
Village Party (incumbent)
Brief bio (e.g. education, work experience, community involvement, family):
- Grew up in Baldwinsville and graduated from Baker in 1988. BS, Siena College, 1992. MBA, Union College, 1998.
- Living/working in the village for 18 years.
- On the Board of Baldwinsville Volunteer Center and Baldwinsville Community Scholarship Foundation.
- Daughter of Frank and Donna O’Donnell of Baldwinsville.
Political experience:
9 years as village trustee.
Why are you running for office?
For nine years, I have enjoyed working to achieve fiscally responsible growth in the village. During my tenure, we have seen the elimination of the village’s local sales tax revenue and the introduction of the 2% tax cap. Despite these constraints, we have improved pedestrian safety, expanded trails and parks, maintained a strong police department, and revitalized Paper Mill Island. I look forward to continuing to help the village thrive while being responsible to taxpayers.
What are the main issues affecting your constituents and what do you plan to do about them if elected?
One issue is the availability of parking in the village center. After a recent public meeting held by the village, it became clear that we need to do a better job of educating the public of all the public parking available throughout the village. I’m focused on the steps we can take immediately, including better signage, more overnight parking, short-term on-street parking and more. We will be looking for funding to address other issues that are currently beyond the scope of the village’s budget.
The village is faced with aging infrastructure. The DPW does a tremendous job of maintaining our roadways and water/sewer systems. I will continue to work with the DPW committee and village engineer to prepare for the future of our infrastructure.
As issues come up, I will continue to work to find solutions that meet the needs of taxpayers, businesses, and visitors.
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Mike Shepard
Village Party (incumbent)
Brief bio (e.g. education, work experience, community involvement, family):
I grew up in the village of Baldwinsville and graduated from Baker High School in 1990. I attended OCC.
I live in the Baldwin Hill neighborhood with my wife and work for SRI Fire Sprinkler as a project manager/fire protection design technician.
I am on the Board of Directors of the Baldwinsville Volunteer Center (10 years); Co-Chair, Margaritafest Committee (9 years).
Oldest son of Derek and Sally Shepard; brother of former Onondaga County Legislator Derek Shepard Jr.
Political experience:
Village trustee since 2013.
Why are you running for office?
I truly love everything about our village: the wonderful parks to our trails, the Amphitheater, the community events we have each year.
One of the most important roles I have played in my tenure as village trustee is heading the Public Safety Committee. Baldwinsville (in my opinion) has the best village police force in all of NYS. I am proud to have played my part as an advocate of the department within the community.
I am also proud of the village trustees’ achievements. The adopted village budget for this fiscal year has a 0% tax increase while managing to plan for some nice village improvement projects. The village also was the first to receive a $300,000 “Village Main Street Program” grant from Onondaga County. This grant will go a long way to improved sidewalks, streetlights, and several village businesses’ façades.
What are the main issues affecting your constituents and what do you plan to do about them if elected?
The main reason I am running for reelection is to continue my work as a fiscally conservative voice on the board while finding ways to improve the safety and quality of life for village residents.
One of the major issues that need improvement is the parking issue within the village. By working with the board and the DPW, I feel we can solve some of the parking issues that are evident.
I would also make the Paper Mill Island Amphitheater a priority. The island has had significant increased use over the last couple of years with some excellent national acts. This will bring in more visitors and increase exposure for our village business owners.
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Dennis Sick
Main Street Party (challenger)
Brief bio (e.g. education, work experience, community involvement, family):
Lived in B’ville since 1984; graduated from North Syracuse. Owner of Mohegan Manor.
Why are you running for office?
I am simply running to share my ideas, and experiences, I spend 90% of my day moving frequently a mile each way from my residence and have many daily contacts with those that I do business with and many others who do business with me, and that allows me much firsthand insight of the needs and operations of the village.
What are the main issues affecting your constituents and what do you plan to do about them if elected?
• Parking: I would improve parking options by proper striping and design of existing and new locations; address the lack of handicap parking and signage solutions on public and private properties; market, promote and educate locals that there are parking options that are better than mall and city parking.
• Safety: I would encourage fellow merchants to light up Baldwinsville, improve and leave our lights on all streets and parking throughout the commercial district for confidence and safety. I would encourage more street and parking cameras and develop a neighborhood camera watch group.
• Cleanliness and curb appeal: The village should study trash pickup solutions in neighborhoods and consider limiting pickup by chosen haulers to one day/time frame per week and consolidating/reducing commercial dumpsters and trash receptacles. We should enact a humane solution to geese problems in parks and docking areas, undertake more aggressive street cleaning and park maintenance and have a larger focus on littering. We should look to improve curb appeal, sidewalks and treescapes on village streets.
• Other issues: I seek to improve utilization and frequency of Paper Mill Island use; protect and hopefully resurrect the historic value of the village; and expand the village website calendar to be all inclusive of village, school, library, fire department, chamber and business information.
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Bruce Stebbins
Village Party (incumbent)
Brief bio (e.g. education, work experience, community involvement, family):
I am a lifelong resident of Baldwinsville, graduated from Baker High School. I received a BA from SUNY Cortland and attended Idaho State University and SUNY-ESF for graduate studies. I retired from Onondaga County Parks after 41 years at Beaver Lake Nature Center, including 21 years as the director. I served 8 years on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Interpretation and am an active member of the Baldwinsville Rotary Club.
Political affiliation/experience:
Independent running on Village Party line; deputy mayor.
Why are you running for office?
I truly enjoy my role as a village trustee and as a member of the public works committee. I am fiscally conservative, working to provide a high level of service to the community in a cost effective manner. I have worked to upgrade to our village parks and trail system, as well as the sidewalk revitalization program. I believe I bring a combination of experience and open-mindedness to the board as a representative of all residents of Baldwinsville.
What are the main issues affecting your constituents and what do you plan to do about them if elected?
• Walkability: We need to see the sidewalk program to its completion and work to link the community to its resources.
• Derelict properties: Continue to work to get properties repaired or, if abandoned, removed through legal processes.
• Lock Street development: Continue to work with developer to see the Lock Street development reach a completion.
• Business: Assist businesses where appropriate to resolve challenges of operating within a small, but busy village whether it is through creative parking solutions or encouragement of activities within the community to promote consumer traffic.
• Fiscal: Ever escalating costs of health insurance, personnel, and other factors beyond the village’s control (mandates from state government) make providing quality service to residents at a reasonable expense an ongoing challenge.
• Quality of life: Everything that the village does or considers must be examined from the perspective of how it will impact the quality of life in Baldwinsville. Decisions need to be made not on an individual basis, but from a community-wide perspective.
