LIVERPOOL — 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.
District 4
District 4 includes a portion of the town of Salina, the village of Liverpool and the town of Geddes.
Colleen Gunnip
Republican, Conservative, Independence
Gunnip is Salina Town Supervisor. She lives in Liverpool. To learn more, visit facebook.com/ColleenForLegislature/.
How will your experience serve you in government?
I have over 37 years of governmental experience between the town of Salina and Onondaga County. I have given back to our community by volunteering for numerous community organizations, such as Liverpool is the Place, Greater Liverpool Chamber and Liverpool American Legion, Women’s Auxiliary Post 188. As Salina supervisor, I have been able to help residents at the town level. I want to use my knowledge and experience to help everyone in Onondaga County. I’m running because service to others is the most important calling a person can have.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
One of the major issues facing the county’s 4th Legislative District is the decision regarding Interstate Route 81. If the New York State Department of Transportation selects the proposed recommendation of a community grid, I fear the restaurants, hotels and gas stations along the 7th North Street and South Bay/Brewerton Road corridors will leave our town. The vacant businesses will result in decrease in the assessment in these corridors, which will result in a decrease in sales tax and gas tax revenue as well as a decrease in town, school and county taxes.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
I have worked diligently to voice the concerns of the Salina residents to our state elected officials. Most recently the New York State Department of Transportation issued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), only giving elected officials, businesses, and residents 60 days to review the over 20,000-page report. I immediately sent a letter requesting additional time for review. I will continue to voice the concerns of the residents that the solution for Interstate Route 81 needs to include continued high-speed traffic through the city of Syracuse to support the businesses.
Stephon Williams
Democratic, Working Families
Williams is a coding analyst who lives in Liverpool. Learn more at stephonforchange.com.
How will your experience serve you in government?
I have highly relevant experience in implementing health cost savings efforts. This would be extremely beneficial when examining the county budget proposals.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
There are many challenges facing the residents in my district, however, transparency has been at the forefront of most issues. Transparency and involving our citizens to engage in local government. Our residents deserves truth and transparency, and as county legislator, I will be sure to listen and engage our constituents of any proposed changes that impacts our district. We need to bridge the gap between people and local government, which would be my core focus as County Legislator.
Healthcare is also an issue facing residents in my district as well as across Onondaga County. Amid the current raging pandemic, we need to ensure that we have resources including adequate staffing allocated to help our communities. This includes ensuring that our health and social departments are adequately funded.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
My ideas involve being transparent with our constituents and having them involved with local government. Local government impacts us all directly, and we should be involved with that process. I plan to put people over politics at all times and listen to all constituents. We need to work on a bipartisan basis to help our people get their needs addressed.
District 5
District 5 includes portions of the towns of Cicero, DeWitt and Salina.
Deb Cody (incumbent)
Republican, Conservative, Independence
Cody is the executive director of the Onondaga County Republican Party. She lives in North Syracuse. Learn more at facebook.com/debcodyforcountyleg.
How will your experience serve you in government?
My experience in community and legislative outreach in the nonprofit sector, and as director of constituent service for a NYS Senate office, has served me well in my five years on the county legislature. One of the best things about the privilege of being elected to public service is the opportunity to interact with people in so many different settings, and learning about people’s lives and how best to advocate for them. I am grateful for the many relationships that I have formed in my time in constituent service that allow me to best help my constituents.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
We have all been challenged in so many unexpected ways over these past several months. It’s hard to think about all the ups and downs that we have experienced, with the rising and falling of virus cases. Disbelief when our lives were suddenly brought to a halt due to the shut down, great hope when cases went down and we were able to reopen. We continue to be challenged by our individual differences in how best to protect ourselves and others, and the need to respect one another’s decisions. County government has been tasked with a huge responsibility in meeting these challenges: economically, socially, in healthcare and education.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
I believe that our county has done very well throughout the pandemic, and have no doubt that we will continue to rise to these challenges. Creativity, forward thinking and working together have allowed us to endure thus far, and I am confident that our government and community will work together to get us past this difficult time. We must address the toll that these past months have taken on so many of our friends and neighbors — both mentally and physically. We must do what it takes to keep our students in the classroom, through increased testing and support for their well-being. I will advocate for mental health services, resources to battle addictive behavior and for allowing people to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. I have faith in our county leaders, my colleagues, and the residents of our community to succeed together.
Jana Rogers
Democratic, Working Families, Keeping Our Promises
Rogers is an educator who lives in Liverpool. Learn more at janarogersdistrict5.com.
How will your experience serve you in government?
My experience as a teacher and school principal involves working with students, teachers, and parents on a daily basis to resolve problems and find creative solutions that benefit our community. I will bring this experience to the county legislature and work to ensure that my constituents are represented well in the legislature, and help them find solutions to their problems.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in your community?
I think the biggest challenge right now is how to recover from the pandemic — physically, financially and emotionally. We need to focus on bolstering our healthcare system and increasing our social services and mental health providers so that we can better recover now, and for the next pandemic around the corner. We also need to make sure that our citizens can recover from this financially — including small local businesses.
What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
I think that we need to restore the health care cuts that we saw in the middle of this pandemic, and increase staffing for our county health system — not to mention increasing our social services staffing and mental health.
