Cleary-Hammarstedt, Kinsella earn village board seats
FAYETTEVILLE — After a close race that proceeded to an automatic hand count but has now been certified by the Onondaga County Board of Elections, Casey Cleary-Hammarstedt and incumbent Dan Kinsella earned trustee spots on the Fayetteville Village Board late last month.
Kinsella came out over Jane Rice, an incumbent who ran on the Fayetteville Voices ticket, by just three votes in the election.
The ballot proposition in Fayetteville to move the village elections from March to November passed by over 200 votes, with the board of elections sharing an official count of 668 “yes” votes to 413 noes. Baldwinsville had the same proposition on its ballot, and its villagers too approved moving their village elections from March to November.
Casey Cleary-Hammarstedt
Cleary-Hammarstedt’s successful run for trustee this year marked her third time running for the Fayetteville Village Board. This time around, she not only earned a seat on the board, but was the leading vote-getter in the trustee race with 614 votes overall.
Cleary-Hammarstedt ran as a Democrat and had Fayetteville Forward as her other party line. She said she feels “very humbled” by the outcome of the race and that she owes a debt of gratitude to those who supported her campaign “in the cluster of modern life” as well as everyone who shared their thoughts while she was knocking on doors.
“In 2020, 318 people voted for me, and in 2022, almost 500 people voted for me,” she said. “Now to have 614, I feel like I’m moving in the right direction.”
Though just elected and a newcomer to the board, Cleary-Hammarstedt said she already began getting to work within a week of election night and has gone straight to being immersed in the village’s budget process.
“I have a lot to learn, and I think that that’s understandable because I don’t think people fully know a job until they actually have to do it,” she said. “I expect my learning curve is going to be very steep, but if nothing else, I am a lifelong learner and I will dive into this and get up to speed.”
Cleary-Hammarstedt said that she looks to make herself as accessible as possible to all of Fayetteville’s residents and that she looks forward to meeting more villagers in the warmer-weather months at festivals and in their neighborhoods.
She said other goals of hers as trustee include an intention to “pinch every penny” and make a distinction between needs and wants.
She said that during her term she will also focus on working around housing shortages and seeing where affordable housing can be provided while addressing the rising costs facing people on fixed incomes and rising property assessments locally.
Additionally, Cleary-Hammarstedt said it’s important for the board to “start fresh.”
“The competition in an election can get in the way of a team being established easily, and I’m obviously the one who’s new to the board,” she said. “But I do think it’s our responsibility to learn how to build a team and work together on behalf of the village.”
As someone who lives east of the village fire house, she said she knows firsthand about the increase in “disruptive” truck traffic coming over the Duguid Road hill and moving west along Route 5, adding that she will aim to talk with state officials about what can be done to solve that issue.
She said she would also like to see the implementation of the village’s comprehensive plan become more of a priority.
A 20-year resident of the village, Cleary-Hammarstedt said she appreciates Fayetteville in part for its schools and for the certain charm it has.
“There is something about Fayetteville that has been built over time—credit to all the preceding mayors and trustees for what they have done to help build the village into what it is now, but as we look to the future, we have to continue evolving because there’s a lot of change happening all around us,” she said.
Cleary-Hammarstedt said it’s a “big honor” to be able to serve the public and that she’ll approach her role as trustee with humility and “a strong sense of responsibility.”
In prior years, she has served as executive director of the not-for-profit Girls Inc. of Central New York, and she also worked for Head Start in Cortland County in support of low-income families and as a district-wide parent liaison for the Syracuse City School District.
Dan Kinsella
First elected to Fayetteville’s village board in 1980, Kinsella came in second in this year’s trustee race, earning reelection and 586 votes in all.
Kinsella, who has lived in Fayetteville all 84 years of his life so far, ran on his independent Perspective Party line this March. He said he thanks the people who turned out and voted in the recent election.
Kinsella went on to say that he has always appreciated living in Fayetteville, which is the simple reason he has resided in the village for as long as he has. Things in particular that bring him enjoyment include the village’s various parks, its celebrations on different occasions, and interactions with the members of the community he has gotten to know over the decades.
“I appreciate everything that we have done and I look forward to all the things that are gonna happen,” he said. “Fayetteville is where I was born, and I love Fayetteville…my love is for my family and God and Fayetteville.”
Now in his 44th straight year as a trustee on the Fayetteville Village Board, Kinsella said he looks forward to working beside Mike Small as the new mayor of the village, having served with him on the board for over 20 years now and known him “going back a long ways” even before then.
In addition to cooperating with the neighboring villages of Manlius and Minoa, Kinsella said he also anticipates maintaining Fayetteville’s municipal services and making sure they keep running as smoothly as possible in order to have the residents well taken care of.
Kinsella said he has taken up every liaison appointment there is in the village, some for multiple years and some for not as long. All through the years, Kinsella said he has been most attuned to the “little things” that incrementally lead to the improvement of the village, like sidewalk fixes, the taking down of trees that need to be chopped, and the patching up of potholes.
He added that he hopes both the approved Splash Car Wash at the corner of Highbridge and West Genesee streets and the grocery store planned for 547 E. Genesee St. are worked out and end up being beneficial to the village.
Kinsella worked from 1962 to 1999 as a mathematics teacher at Chittenango High School, where he also coached football and boys and girls basketball.
Kinsella was an interior fireman from 1965 to 1995 and is a life member of the Fayetteville Fire Department.
