Congrats to County Legislature election winners

Election Day is always a happy and sad day for me. I want to thank all of those who voted for me for county legislator. I’m happy to be returning and I’ll continue to work very hard for the town of Lansing. I didn’t fail to notice, however, that about 700 people didn’t vote for me. I’ll continue to try and win your vote and I’ll continue to serve the entire community, even those whose votes continue to elude me. I’m a public servant, and that’s everyone.

I want to welcome Randy Brown, Travis Brooks, Veronica Pillar, Lee Shurtleff and Greg Mezey to the Tompkins County Legislature. I’ve already met with some of you, and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest and working with all of you.

We are losing some folks this year who I’ve worked with on and off for almost two decades. Leslyn McBean-Clairborne, Martha Robertson, Dave McKenna, Leslie Schill and Glenn Morey will all be leaving the Legislature. That’s more than a third of the legislative seats changing hands.

I want to thank my soon-to-be-former colleagues for their years of work. Each is leaving a legacy: Robertson and the community housing fund; McBean-Clairborne and the Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the new Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group or Team JEDI; McKenna and his leadership along with Mike Hall in the revamping of the airport; Schill and her leadership on the $7-million American Rescue Fund program; and Morey and his consistent commitment to protect agriculture and support the rural areas of the county. Morey also makes a good clam chowder.

The Legislature is facing some big hurdles ahead, but I’m happy to say we’ve filled some challenging positions as some of the county’s leaders retire. Jonathan Wood is retiring as county attorney, and Bill Troy is taking that role. Hall has retired as airport director, and Roxan Noble was just last week named the new director. Elizabeth Cree retired as Republican elections commissioner, and Tamara Scott has filled that position.

We are still searching for a new county administrator, but we are lucky to have Lisa Holmes filling that role for now. Welcome to our new department heads and good luck to those who served us so well. While these are not elected roles, these changes have all happened in just the last five months, within the time we all started running for office.

Of course, with many winners, there’s also a lot of people who came up short, but I also want to congratulate them. It takes a lot to put yourself out there, put everything you have into it and still, at the end of the day, be beaten by the other candidate. As I write this, the race between Mike Lane and Tom Corey for County Legislature remains within a handful of votes. Both put a lot of time into winning votes, but soon, one will come out on top.

I don’t want to say “everyone’s a winner” in political races as that’s clearly not true, but I do think you gain a lot by running for office. I asked Erin Worsell in February to run for Town Board in Lansing. She reluctantly agreed to start the process. We collected signatures to get her on the ballot for both the Republican and Independence lines.

We put together a palm card, and she did what I think is key to winning a race: she went to more than 1,000 doors. It was hard to get her to take a break. So much time, so many of the Lansing streets walked, so many neighbors met. With those conversations, her platform grew, and we built and sent mailers and called voters.

Hundreds of hours by her and others, and yet, it still wasn’t enough. Still, she now knows the town. She wants to stay involved. She now knows hundreds more people, many of whom she never would have met. It’s a life experience where you learn about the trials of your neighbors, many normally shut away from you, but also about yourself and what you think is important.

Pat Pryor passed away this year. Pryor beat me after my first term as legislator by seven votes. Yes, seven. I came back to regain the seat four years later by 33 votes. In both elections, I learned a lot about the town and why I want to serve.

In the four years Pryor was in the seat, I also learned a lot from her. I watched how she did the job, what she did right and wrong. She served for all the right reasons and was a good mentor even though she may not have known I watched and learned from her.

I hope after reading this you’re thinking, “I wish I had run!” Guess what? You’re in luck. We start petitions again for some seats in three months, and school board elections are in the spring. I hope I’ll see you at my door. If you need directions, email mike.sigler@yahoo.com.