Archive: News

	This week we conclude the Lansing Star interviews with Lansing candidates.  We ask the same questions of each and let you compare their answers.  Click here to see all the Lansing 2015 election interviews.

Connie Wilcox (R) is running for one of the two open Town Board seats.  She served two terms ending in 2011, ten ran for Supervisor as an Independent.

Wilcox has lived in Lansing all her life.  She grew up in North Lansing, where her father was a founder of the North Lansing Fire Department.  Wilcox is treasurer of the North Lansing Auxiliary.  Since being out of office she has continued to volunteer for the Town as Town Liaison to the Lansing Housing Authority and the Lansing Fire District.

She stopped by the Lansing Star to talk about why she is running and what she sees as important for the Town over the next four years.

  Lansing Star: What prompted you to run for Town Council now, in this year’s election?

Connie Wilcox: As you know, I attend all the Town Board meetings.  I have over the past four years.  I'm not saying there is anything bad going on.  But you can see there's a lack of experience.  It's more of a reactive thing when something happens, rather than them being proactive.  All of a sudden the Board says, 'We have to do something about this now."

You need to plan ahead.  You also need to realize that you can't be everything to everybody.  There are some things that are simply not town issues.  Even though it's very hard to say, 'This really isn't a town issue.  Maybe we could give you a little advice' -- but you can't get yourself wrapped up in issues that aren't actually town issues.  It's a waste of resources and a waste of taxpayers' money, because if we're doing it for one we should be doing it for everybody.

I'm sure that a lot of people aren't going to appreciate that I said that, but you have to explain it to people in a way that they understand, and most people do understand.

I would like to see the Board be more proactive, not just to react to everything.

  Three of the four board candidates are former board members.  What would you say your most important accomplishments were when you were on the board in the past?  How will you build on that, if elected?

I was one of the overseers of the $450,000 community block grant that we got for upgrading houses for people who are less fortunate, and the elderly.  We really did a lot of good work with that.  I'd like to see us go for another grant like that, because there are still a lot of people in this town that need help, that can't make their homes energy efficient, or their septic is going.  We could really help people who would qualify for this.  I'd like to see us go after another one of those.

I got the Agriculture Protection Plan started years ago, that was just accepted by the Town Board.

I was chair of the Technology Committee.  I'm pretty proud of what I did as far as getting a lot of things upgraded for the Town.  We got a new server so things would be secure.  I would like to continue with that.

I am the liaison with the Housing Authority.  That's a very important piece of the Town of Lansing history.  I am the liaison with the Fire District.  I have good rapport with all of these people and I think that's an important part of being a board member, being out there and talking to everyone.  Getting their feelings on what's going on and how they perceive things.  Sometimes the way they perceive things aren't actually the way they really are, so you can kind of straighten them out on those things.  And they say, 'Oh, really, I didn't know that.'

I am very passionate about Lansing.  I love all the people in Lansing.  I want to represent them.  I want to be a voice for all of Lansing, not just a small group here or there.  Because each area of the Town has different issues.  I want to listen to them and I want to be a voice on the Town Board for all of those people.

  What do you think is the most important thing that Lansing needs right now?  How will you make that happen?

Boy, that's a tough one.  I think Lansing needs to come together as a community. I think we need to be more cohesive.  I think that there has been a feeling in the north end of town that they're sort of forgotten, because everything seems to happen in the south end of town.  That's nobody's fault.  I'd like to make each and every person in this town feel that their issue is important, and their issue isn't any less important than anybody else's.

So I think it's important to have a voice on the Board for everyone.

  Where do you stand on repowering Cayuga Power Plant?

I'd very much like to see the power plant repowered.  I think it's important.  If there's going to be any growth in town it definitely needs to happen.  There will not be enough electricity generated if the power plant goes down.  I've talked to several people that are involved with NYSEG, and upgrading the power lines is not going to really help.

Two nuclear power plants are planning on closing down now.  Who is going to make up that energy?

It's important to repower the power plant.  I also think it's important to get natural gas into Lansing, to get more volume.  Because right now that is holding up a lot of things that could be happening that would definitely build up our tax base.

  Like the gas pipeline through Dryden to the Warren Road area?

It's very important that we get that gas pipeline.  There are a lot of things being held up because of that.  I don't think that people understand how important it is.

Also, going back to the fracking issue, fracking is dead, so let's forget about that. New York State has banned fracking.  It doesn't necessarily mean that gas coming through that pipeline is fracked gas.  We don't know.  It's coming from Pennsylvania.  I think to keep going on about the fracking is senseless.  Because fracking is over and done with.  Let's move on.

  There has been a lot of talk about new development and traffic in the Town.  Do you agree with the comprehensive plan?  If not, would you follow it anyway as representative of what the Town wants?  Do you have an action plan as to how the comprehensive plan should be implemented or not implemented?

I haven't really seen anything on the new comprehensive plan.  We're looking at the one that's in place.  That's another issue - a comprehensive plan is not a law.  It's a guideline to follow.  I think people lose sight of that.  They think this is a comprehensive plan, so we have to do it.  Well, if that was the case there would have been a lot of things done over the past several years.

I think traffic is an issue in Lansing.  The more developments we get, the more traffic there will be.  The County needs to look at putting another lane on North Triphammer Road to ease some of that traffic.  All the traffic coming through isn't necessarily because of the Lansing developments.  There are a lot of people who come to Lansing every day to Cornell university, from Cayuga County, from Tioga County, from Schuyler County that don't live in Lansing.  They're coming through Lansing and creating a larger volume of traffic.

It's hard to say a lot about the comprehensive plan because it's not set in stone.

  Well, I know it's not set in stone, but at its most basic level it is supposed to represent what the town as a whole wants to see happen.  The reason I asked that question is that I don't really see much of it happening at all. 

No, it hasn't.


  Shouldn't it, though?  If it didn't does that mean that the plan was flawed or the government just didn't do it?

I don't think the plan was flawed.  I think there were just things that weren't done.  They just weren't done. We're talking about connector roads and things like that.  They are on paper and they are in the comprehensive plan, but they've never been done.  I guess they had more important things to look at at the time, so they didn't follow the comprehensive plan.

  After years of political split on the board, people are saying the election this year is an important one.  Why would you say this election in particular is important for Lansing?

I don't like political split, and I don't believe in political split.  In the eight years that I was on the Board it wasn't political. It was about what was best for the Town.  I'd like to see it get back to that again.  I don't think that it matters... I'll probably get shot for this!... but I don't think it matters what your political affiliation is.  It's about Lansing and the people of Lansing.

I'm not saying that when I was on the board before there were not disagreements. But we always talked it out and worked it out.  And came to an understanding about what was best by the Town. I've been really saddened by what has happened over the past few years. It's as if one of the people says it's white and the other people will say it's black, whether it is or not.

To me it looks like a personality conflict.  I don't think that's good for town government.  You have to set your feelings aside and you need to do what's best for the people of Lansing.

Votes on the board have been very much along party lines.  Do you believe that will continue in the next four years?  As a board member what would you do to reach out and find areas of agreement?  I think that kind of leadership applies to board members as well as the Supervisor.

It does apply.  There needs to be a lot more open dialog than there has been.  I'm not pointing at any one party or any one person, but inadvertently I think things are sometimes done through the back door.  I don't think that's a good policy.  Everyone needs to sit down and discuss the issues.

And yes, you can agree to disagree, and if you disagree right up to the point where you take a vote, then you vote 'no'.  But it's not because of your political affiliation. It's because you just don't believe in it.

That's pretty simplistic, but that's my feeling.  There needs to be more open dialog, and people don't need to dig their heels in when they think they're right and the other person is wrong -- and not have any discussion.

  Of the four candidates for Town Board, what makes you the best choice?

For one thing, my experience.  I served under two different supervisors who had two totally different management styles.

  (laughs) That's for sure!  (Note: Wilcox served under Steve Farkas and Scott Pinney.)

I think I  did pretty well under both of them.  I didn't always agree with either one of them.

I do have the experience. I know about budgeting.  I know about personnel.  I know about general town laws.  And I'm not afraid to ask for legal assistance if I don't know.  I am very committed to the Town.  I will be there.  Obviously I'm committed -- even though I lost the Supervisor election four years ago I continue to come to the meetings and keep abreast of what's going on.  I could go sit on that board right now and know every issue that's come forward.  I'm up to speed.  That's why I feel that I make the best candidate.

  And -- open disclosure -- not all the candidates are doing that.

I try not to notice or judge.  But a couple of people have said to me you would think, with the election coming up, that all the candidates would be here.

  What would you like people to know about your candidacy that we haven't talked about?

I'd just like people to know that I will work for all of them.  I'm committed.  I have the experience.  I just really want to serve my town.  It was a privilege,  when I served for the eight years that I served.  I'd like to have that privilege again, because when you work for the people of your town it is a privilege.


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