VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – The recently vacated trustee seat on the Fayetteville Village Board has officially been filled.
Jane Rice, a longtime member of the village’s planning board, was appointed to the position by Mayor Mark Olson last week. With that, Rice has also resigned as Fayetteville’s planning board chair, a role she had held since 2007.
The spot on the village board became available when former Trustee Dennis Duggleby stepped down in August and relocated to North Carolina with his family.
Olson said that Rice was chosen as Duggleby’s replacement because of her decades of experience with municipal government and her dedication to the betterment of the village.
“I think she’s going to do a great job,” Olson said. “She can hit the ground running because she knows the players, she understands what the village does, and she understands who’s involved in making decisions and who’s involved in projects.”
From 2005 until March, Rice served as principal and director of planning for the Syracuse-based landscape architecture firm Environmental Design & Research.
Her tenure there saw her provide consulting services to communities across New York State with regard to comprehensive plan development, land use development, design guidelines and zoning codes.
Rice said that professional workload informed her approach to both decision-making and communicating with the public by helping her understand that there are several sides to every critical issue.
“My approach is always to listen, learn, research and then make a rational, well-based decision,” she said.
Now that she has entered retirement, Rice said she has extra time to devote to her position as trustee and the set of responsibilities that comes with it.
“I’m very honored and very excited to see how I can contribute to the decisions that the board of trustees is faced with every month,” Rice said.
She said she will, however, miss the “absolute delight” of working with the other individuals on the planning board in her previous capacity as chair.
Having spent 28 years on the planning board in total, Rice said she will bring to her new role an expert knowledge of commercial happenings in the village.
In her view, Fayetteville has constantly evolved over this last quarter century instead of staying “frozen in time,” though she adds that a “healthy mixture” of recreational, educational and social opportunities have remained intact for residents to enjoy.
Rice will be succeeded on the planning board by her deputy chair, Dan Reisman.
“It should be a seamless transition,” Rice said. “The planning board is really a wonderful, strong board committed to community and it will remain so.”
Last week marked the first time in Olson’s 19 years as mayor that he was tasked with appointing a trustee.
Ahead of his selection, he received emails, a letter, and phone calls from a handful of interested residents. He then considered what qualities he was looking for in his pick and who would best fulfill the duties of the role.
Though the mayor has the authority in the interim to fill vacancies among the trustee seats, a special election for the position will need to be held next March.