VILLAGE OF LIVERPOOL – This year’s Liverpool village election will be a historic one, the first time ever that both mayoral candidates are women.
Current village Trustee Christina Fadden is running as a Republican while newcomer Stacy Finney is running as a Democrat.
Whichever candidate prevails in the June 20 election will become the village’s second female mayor, its 14th mayor overall.
In 2001, Republican Marlene Ward defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor Jon Zappola to become the first woman mayor in village history.
Christina Fadden
Fadden, 59, is a lifelong Liverpudlian. After attending college at Eastman School of Music and Indiana University, she moved back home.
“I wanted to raise my beautiful daughter, Shannon, in our community,” she said. “And I’ve lived here ever since, a total of 50 years.”
For more than seven years Fadden has served on the village board. As a trustee, she founded the Village Tree Committee. Prior to becoming a trustee, Fadden was a member of Liverpool Cemetery Restoration Committee and the village zoning board of appeals.
From 2004 to 2008, Fadden worked as assistant executive director of the NY State Right to Life Committee, Inc.
She presently works as personnel director for the Onondaga County Department of Social Services overseeing more than 420 employees. She’s also a lifetime member of the American Legion Post 188 Auxiliary.
Stacy Finney
Raised in Syracuse’s Strathmore neighborhood, Stacy Finney has lived in Liverpool since March 2011.
“My husband, Ray, and I felt it was time for a move to an area that had the ability to walk to shops and restaurants,” she said. “Ray teaches at Liverpool Middle School, and I would often sub there in addition to working alongside him on the musicals. We both agreed the village of Liverpool would be the perfect place to raise our family.”
Before relocating to Liverpool, Finney celebrated her Strathmore roots by joining the Strathmore Neighborhood Association.
“I started a children’s Halloween Parade which they still put on to this day — a tradition I hope to bring to the village of Liverpool, too,” she said. “I was also very involved in the Strathmore Tour of Historic Homes.”
The 48-year-old candidate and mother of two is employed as an eighth grade art teacher at Strough Middle School in Rome. Finney was educated at State University of New York schools in Geneseo and Oswego.
“After college I worked in a variety of different building and design positions,” she said.
More recently, she pursued interior design work as a sideline, operating a business called CNY Interior Arrangements.
Finney is currently serving a four-year term on the village zoning board of appeals.
She is a member of the Rome Teachers Association, an affiliate of NY State United Teachers union.
Issues listed
While Fadden and Finney are two very different women, they agree on the toughest issue facing the village: traffic.
“We must maintain our way of life and identity while development takes place around us,” Fadden said. “Traffic is an ongoing decades-long concern. The noise and congestion created from pass-through traffic, especially truck traffic, must be reduced, mitigated and resisted. The character of our village environment should remain quaint and inviting, not commercialized and depersonalized.”
As she campaigns in the village, Finney finds that traffic is the residents’ overwhelming concern.
“Traffic will continue to be a challenge, especially with Amazon and Micron pressing at our borders,” Finney said. “I will be sure the village has a strong voice to represent the needs of our village before decisions are made outside our boundaries that impact our way of life.”
Each of the candidates believe she has what it takes to guide the village into the future.
Fadden points to her record as a trustee.
“The voters do not have to wonder how I will lead Liverpool,” she said. “I have a proven record of setting politics aside, looking at all needs intently and independently, expressing and advocating for my thoughts while working collegially to accomplish the best results I can for my constituents.”
She pledged to keep taxes stable while nurturing community growth.
“I’ll continue our practice of proactive investments in our roads, parks, sewers and infrastructure to prevent quality-of-life challenges before they ever occur,” Fadden said.
Finney points to her personal “can-do” attitude.
“I have the passion, commitment, energy and creative background to put my ideas into action,” she said.
“With a ‘can-do’ attitude, I will lead and I will listen,” Finney continued. “In these last few months, I have met with many people and learned not just what folks love about our village, but how many feel it can be better. Even something as simple as improving the website can do a great deal to foster better communication between residents and the village.”
