By Phil Blackwell
Two different elections – one local, one national – will prove a focal point for the village of Baldwinsville in the months ahead, and in each of these instances a resident need not have to vote in person.
The rescheduled election for three seats on the village’s Board of Trustees is set for Sept. 15, with three incumbents trying to hold on to their seats against one challenger.
Dennis Sick, running under the Main Street Party line, is the challenger against Deputy Mayor Bruce Stebbins and Trustees Megan O’Donnell and Michael Shepard.
Voting takes place from noon to 9 p.m. on Sept. 15 at Village Hall, with masks required and social distancing rules. At the Aug. 20 village board meeting, Clerk Maureen Butler said that anyone not wishing to vote in person can ask for an application for an absentee ballot.
These same standards are now in place for the general election in November thanks to a bill passed by the New York State Legislature in late July by the and signed last week by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Any citizen can now use the COVID-19 pandemic as a valid reason to request an absentee ballot. This followed delayed results during the June state primaries when nearly 40 percent of voters did so by mail.
Other pending state legislation could require town and village clerks to count ballots. Mayor Richard Clarke said that, to this point, no mechanism was in place to pay clerks for this extra work but that the village had to get ready in case it was required.
“It’s something we need to be prepared for,” he said.
Clarke also reported on the state comptroller office’s report that sales tax revenue was down 8.2 percent in July from the previous year, saying that both county and federal officials are forecasting “draconian” cuts.
“There will be a lot of people out of work,” said Clarke, unless more federal aid was forthcoming, and that politics needs to get put aside to help people.
One thing the village did receive was a check of more than $350,000, reported by treasurer Anna Custer as the first payment for the village’s infrastructure project.
Another smaller project, installing a new floor and wall at the Canton Woods Senior Center, is well underway. Village engineer Steve Darcangelo said that the floor is in place and wall construction will be completed in the next two weeks.
Police Chief Michael Lefancheck said that he has received the state’s 140-page resource guide on police reforms and will soon be meeting with Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick and other police officials to discuss the 16 different issues and initiatives laid out in the guide.
