In the town of Salina, there are three candidates on the ballot for town supervisor, eight candidates running for four seats on the Salina Town Board (divided by ward), and two candidates for town justice.
The 2021 general election is Tuesday, Nov. 2. For information about polling places and early voting, visit ongov.net/elections or contact the Onondaga County Board of Elections at 315-435-8683.
Supervisor (vote for 1)
Nick Paro
Republican, Conservative, Independence
Paro is a legislative analyst for the Onondaga County Legislature. To learn more, visit nickparo.com.
How will your experience serve you in government?
I have been Salina’s 1st Ward Councilor for three years, a legislative analyst for the Onondaga County Legislature for over five years and have earned a political science degree from Syracuse University. I believe the combination of these experiences makes me uniquely qualified to serve in government. I am proud of the accomplishments I have been part of while serving as 1st Ward Councilor, and proud of the work I have done as a legislative analyst with the Onondaga County Legislature.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
Constituent service, improving our infrastructure (i.e., drainage), encouraging redevelopment of commercial corridors and improving our neighborhoods and parks while maintaining fiscal stability is top priority. Balancing these priorities is always a challenge and takes an experienced public servant to be successful. In addition, engaging with the residents in the town is always challenging, and life during the pandemic has made this even more difficult. Getting greater community involvement in all of the wonderful things happening around Salina is important to address.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
Communicating clearly with the residents of Salina is important, therefore I send a monthly email newsletter out talking about what the town is working on and asking for feedback. This newsletter allows for greater transparency and holds me and the rest of the town accountable for our actions. This leads to greater trust from Salina resident’s allowing us to build upon the priorities listed in the question above.
Kathleen Zabinski
Democratic, Keeping Our Promises
Zabinski is a retired sergeant from Jamesville Correctional Facility. To learn more, visit Kathy Zabinski for Town of Salina Supervisor on Facebook.
How will your experience serve you in government?
Having worked at Jamesville Correctional Facility as an officer and a sergeant for over 31 years, I bring the experience of having worked in local government into the Town of Salina Supervisor position. I supervised officers and inmates, scheduling of officers, planning budgets, and responding to emergency situations. In fact, I have supervised the facility.
Also, I have experience in the union as appointed grievance representative and elected union officer. I attended labor/management meetings, disciplinary hearings, and contract negotiations. The union worked with management to create a safer workplace by creating the health and safety committee.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
What I believe to be the biggest challenges was echoed by the town of Salina constituents that I have met through our campaign and door-knocking. I learned that many feel the same as I do when it comes to communication, transparency and accountability. There needs to be more.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
The best and simplest approach to addressing the concerns of the constituents is communication. If we can keep the town of Salina informed as to what is going on, the more involved they will become with the town.
We need to use less social media and return to meeting with constituents on a one-on-one basis. We need to continue with town hall meetings and find ways to engage the constituents, not shut them down. Making our elected officials more accessible, will help in creating more transparency and accountable.
Politics and political affiliations need to be left at the front door. When elected, we are there for all constituents and not just a select few.
Eagle Newspapers was unable to reach candidate Patrick W. Rowe Jr. (Working Families).
Town Councilor: 1st Ward (vote for 1)
Aaron Buchta
Democratic
Buchta is a Resource Conservation Specialist for the Onondaga County Soil & Water Conservation District.
How will your experience serve you in government?
In my professional career, I work with multiple stakeholders, including: local, state, and federal agencies, citizen groups, and landowners. I believe this experience will serve me in the Town of Salina First Ward Councilor position because I have first hand knowledge in working with these stakeholders, and providing assistance including: project planning, permitting, and design. I feel this experience will transfer well to the position of First Ward Town Councilor, because I already have experience with issues local municipalities and their constituents face, especially with regard to: drainage, runoff, stormwater management practices for construction sites, and the MS4 program.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
I think the largest issue in the town of Salina is maintaining services while keeping the tax levy level. With rising costs over the last two years, property assessments and taxes have been increasing. In addition to regular services such as parks, road maintenance, and plowing, there are other requirements by the state and federal government which must be met, cost the town money, and may not be apparent to the average constituent. This further strains the town’s ability to provide services without increasing taxes.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
I would support evaluating where there may be a duplication of services, and work with the village of Liverpool and Onondaga County to reduce overlap, and partner with these municipalities to ensure continued services across all three municipalities, but reduce the overall tax burden to the constituent.
Candidate Jason Recor (Republican, Conservative, Independence) did not respond to the Star-Review’s election questionnaire.
Town Councilor: 2nd Ward (vote for 1)
Matthew Cushing
Republican, Conservative, Independence
Cushing works in heavy equipment sales. To learn more, visit facebook.com/mcushing2/.
How will your experience serve you in government?
I have been in municipal sales for five years. Also a member of the New York State Highway Superintendents Association. Understanding government processes such as budgeting, bidding, purchasing, road maintenance, and emergency response, will prove useful as I fulfill the role of town councilor. While limited, I do have a familiarity with local level politics as both my father and mother are elected officials.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
Speeding and reckless driving, fiscal responsibility, and open and honest communication with the public
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
- Larger police presence, neighborhood watch, electric speed warning signs
- Tax incentives to encourage more small businesses (buying local) in the town, thus leading to a larger sales tax revenue.
- A better virtual forum where community members can exchange ideas, address concerns and stay updated on local matters.
Leesa Paul
Democratic, Keeping Our Promises
Paul is a social worker, instructor at BOCES Impaired Driving Program, CEP/founder of not-for-profit Cope With Stroke and full-time caregiver to her husband who suffered a massive stroke. To learn more, visit her Facebook group, Leesa Paul for Town of Salina Board.
How will your experience serve you in government?
“Educate, Advocate, Invigorate” is my tagline. I will educate myself on the issues facing the town of Salina, create solutions and educate the community.
As a social worker, founder of Cope with Stroke and being a full-time caregiver, I have learned to advocate for my husband and others. I will advocate for the people and businesses that I serve.
I have written local, state and federal grants, creating new programs and increased staff.
I have served on boards and held several executive positions. I have the leadership, budgeting and advocacy skills that will make me successful.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
Marijuana dispensaries in our town, the maintenance of our infrastructure of our roads and our sewers, the I-81 project with loss of revenue to local businesses and causing a greater burden on the rest of the taxpayers in the town of Salina, creating a budget that continues to decrease tax rate, filling empty business space and making town of Salina a place where you start your family and decide to stay, making sure people feel safe in their neighborhoods, and the final challenge will be working together across party lines, putting community first.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
For marijuana dispensaries, holding town meetings allowing people to have a voice and making sure there are written rules and regulation that protect our citizens, and keep our youth safe.
The I-81 project will cause a reduction of revenue in our local businesses. I would like to bring more people to our town through community events. For maintenance of our infrastructure working with the highway department to identify how our money can best be spent. Working with landlords to fill empty businesses. To have people wanting to stay in our town, create and grow programs in the community to age in place. Safety means different things to different neighborhoods; advocating for a greater police presence in the neighborhoods is the key factor in making our community safe.
Finally, no matter what the political party, we need to work together for the greater good, our community.
Town Councilor: 3rd Ward (vote for 1)
Daniel Ciciarelli (incumbent)
Republican, Conservative, Independence
Ciciarelli is a Regional Partnership Manager at CCMR3. To learn more, visit facebook.com/Ciciarelli3rdWard/.
How will your experience serve you in government?
My background in business and finance, volunteer work in/outside of the community, and my almost 2 years on the town board has set me up to be able to do even more than I have already accomplished in my current term. I led the successful implementation of a foreclosure/vacant property registry, I was the driving force in amending the 55-year-old bonfire law, and also have been able to assist in securing funds for the Mattydale Main Street (Brewerton Road) through community outreach. I also sit on committees that look into ways of improving the town as a whole.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
The biggest challenge in the 3rd Ward has been and still is code enforcement. Although I have made progress from being a member of the town’s Code Task Force Committee, there is still much work to be done in improving the efficiencies of the department and reviewing hundreds of codes to see if they need to be amended or if new ones need to be implemented. Along with this comes the issue of landlords and other owners who do not properly take care of their properties and are not being held accountable. In addition to these issues, community involvement and providing more outlets for children and teens have risen to the top as well. By getting more members of the community to build a passion for improving and being involved in the area, it will not only help the 3rd Ward but the entire town.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
I will continue to address the issues with code enforcement by staying involved with the Codes Task Force Committee. We are already looking into a rental registry to hold problem landlords and tenants accountable. Some of the other laws we are looking into are business operating permits and a nuisance law to address problem businesses in the town as well. I will also continue to look into the efficiency and consistency of the department. Getting members of the community involved has been a work in progress. Through being directly involved in the 3rd Ward Community Group and especially the Mattydale Events Committee, I have seen a huge boost in residents being more active in the area. By aiding these two groups and providing them with direction, information, etc., we will be able to provide more activates for the children and teens in the area showing community is a powerful force.
Tina Fitzgerald
Democratic, Keeping Our Promises
Fitzgerald is a retired case manager. To learn more, visit Tina Fitzgerald for Town of Salina Third Ward on Facebook.
How will your experience serve you in government?
I am skilled in working with people to get needs met.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
Teens with nothing to do, poorly kept properties and lack of business growth.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
Seeking ways to develop more activities for youth, increase code enforcement presence in neighborhoods and work to develop incentives for new businesses.
Town Councilor: 4th Ward (vote for 1)
Duane Maine
Democratic, Keeping Our Promises
Maine is a medical practice and business administrator. To learn more, visit Duane Maine for Town of Salina – 4th Ward Councilor on Facebook.
How will your experience serve you in government?
I have worked in both the private sector and not for profits, maximizing utilization, efficiency and productivity. I have the business and human resource management skills. My passion is public service and have the conditioning to appropriately work through the issues with a respectful and cooperative style to promote team work and process improvement abilities. I’m not your typical politician. I’m comfortable with meeting with the public by listening and discussing issues with the intention of being respectful and address the issues at hand. These issues must be documented with appropriate responses and actions. I have the project management experience.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
In regards to the pandemic, I felt like we in total could have been more informative to assisting and educating our community of the services available to them. I want to make sure that the stimulus monies that we have received have been fully accounted for and communicated with the public. Communication has been very poor in our ward. Our senior and family population has been under-served. We are having more issues of theft and disturbances in our community. Traffic speed limits have been ignored and causing alarm to our children and pedestrian safety. Some property areas are being poorly maintained and some have been abandoned. Small and large businesses continue to struggle in our town. There has been a lot of turnover in the small business arena. Infrastructure continues to be an issue. We are not running our town as a business like it should be.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
I would like to recommend that we totally revise our communication methods to our community. I would like to collaborate with the other wards to work together to better serve not only my ward but the complete town of Salina constituents. A lot of seniors are not aware of the current issues and services that could help them. I want full transparency within our town. I would like to have all issues documented, prioritized and followed through. Many residents have complained that they are not hearing back from their elected officials. I would like to see more funds appropriated for our police. There has been a decline in the number of patrol persons we have. We need to get a sense of safety restored to residents. I want to work respectfully with all of the board members no matter what their party affiliation is. Unity is very important to me.
4th Ward incumbent David Carnie (Republican, Conservative, Independence) did not respond to the Star-Review’s election questionnaire.
Town Justice (vote for 1)
Anthony C. LaValle
Democratic, Working Families, Residents for Justice
How will your experience serve you in government?
I was first elected as a judge 14 years ago. I have always tried to uphold the highest standards and can honestly say my court record is unblemished. Sadly, the incumbent cannot make that statement. When I began my service there was much to learn about the essentials of managing both the court’s office and the courtroom itself. Three times I’ve been honored to be re-elected by my neighbors and I look forward every day to meeting the unique responsibilities required of your local judge. I invite you to ask any member of law enforcement, the district attorney’s office, judge or defense attorney, of my and the incumbent’s qualifications. Then vote your conscience.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
Getting certain judges out of bed in the middle of the night to answer the calls of law enforcement is one of the biggest challenges I see in our community. For example, in the last ten months I’ve performed approximately 30 after hours legal proceedings for other courts, including the town of Salina. To my knowledge, in the last 10 months the incumbent judge has performed zero. When a judge is not available to answer the call of law enforcement, the police may have no choice but to release a criminal back out on our streets, or hold an innocent person in jail, without due process. Elect me as your Salina judge and you can sleep at night.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
Hard work, fair and impartial treatment of the accused and answering the calls of law enforcement day or night are the keys to being a good judge. Don’t make the office of judge political by voting your party line or because a candidate in an incumbent. If you do, then none of us are safe. This time, protect yourselves and your families by electing the judge who gets out of bed and does the job, so you can sleep at night!
Andrew Piraino (incumbent)
Republican, Conservative, Independence
How will your experience serve you in government?
I have been Salina Town Judge for 28 years. There have been several changes in the laws over those years such as bail reform and legalization of marijuana. My experiences as judge have helped me deal with the changes and challenges in all areas of the law.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
From a judicial perspective, the number of DWIs and drug cases that I preside over.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
Because of the pandemic drug use, DWIs and domestic violence cases have really increased. The court has to make sure that the alcohol and drug users get treatment whether in or out patient before the case is disposed of. For the domestic violence cases the defendants should have to go through anger management courses. There are many services available for domestic violence victims such as Vera House. The court will usually issue orders of protection in domestic violence cases.
