Tony Gugino
Fredonia Department of Public Works Supervisor Tony Gugino is retiring, and the village Board of Trustees acted quickly Monday to hire Scott Marsh as his replacement.
Mayor Douglas Essek began the meeting by reading Gugino’s brief retirement letter. Gugino, Fredonia’s DPW chief since 2018, wrote he was resigning as of June 16 in order to retire so he could spend more time with family.
The trustees accepted Gugino’s letter then went into a 40-minute-long executive session “to discuss the employment history of persons or persons involved with the DPW,” according to the motion of trustee Roger Britz.
Losing only one representative seemed to be good news for the Empire State, until we heard that the difference between losing one seat and keeping our 27 representatives came down to fewer than 100 people filling out the census last year.
New York tried to do a full count, but it didnât work.
Using ads, text messages, phone calls and celebrities, state and local officials exhorted residents last year to participate in a count that unfolded amid the coronavirus pandemic and court fights over various aspects of the Trump administrationâs conduct of the census. That included an ultimately unsuccessful effort to exclude undocumented immigrants.
In fact, some political experts thought we’d lose two.
“We’ve lost two or more seats every Census since 1950,” said Dan Lamb, lecturer in Cornell’s Institute for Public Affairs. “This is a break in the trend line that’s positive for New York. We’re not losing as much clout as we have in prior cycles.”
Losing only one representative seemed to be good news for the Empire State, until we heard that the difference between losing one seat and keeping our 27 representatives came down to fewer than 100 people filling out the census last year.
Yes. If 89 more people had responded to the once-a-decade nationwide count, we would have kept our seat in the House.
jdagostino@observertoday.com
In this photo from Fredonia Access Television, trustees are pictured as the mayor joined via video. From left are Heidi Powell, James Lynden, Roger Britz, Scott Johnston and EvaDawn Bashaw.
Monday evening’s special meeting, which was televised only through the Fredonia Public Access Channel, said it all. When it came to the final approval of the 2021-22 village of Fredonia budget, Mayor Douglas Essek was on the outside looking in.
Seated in village hall were the five trustees while Essek joined the meeting by video. Residents, who wanted details, were nearly facing some of the same obstacles.
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