The Cortland County Redistricting Commission, tasked with reviewing plans for a redrawing of legislative districts, appointed five residents and two municipal leaders to its Citizens Advisory Committee on Wednesday.
The members of that committee are set to advise the commission based on their experience as members of the public and as elected officials. The appointed members are:
- Scott Steve, city of Cortland mayor
- Hal McCabe, village of Homer mayor
- Eric Mulvihill, Cortland County Business Development Corporation Economic Development Specialist
- Amy Bertini, Cortland County resident
- Danielle Wimbish, Cortland County resident
- Forrest Earl, Lime Hollow Board of Directors president
- William McGovern, former village of Marathon mayor
Prior to a vote on the resolution for the committee’s appointment, which was unanimous, legislators entered executive session to discuss “the financial credit or employment history of a person, or persons who have applied for the committee.”
Officials and residents said they are ready to get to work.
“Redistricting in a county should not be a difficult task,” McCabe said. “My priorities are to ensure the village of Homer is one district and not split up, which is one of the guidelines of the law.”
McCabe said his second priority would be to make sure the legislative districts in the city of Cortland align with the city’s ward boundaries, a goal fellow mayor Steve said he will be seeking to achieve.
Steve also noted one of the communities of interest in the city would be the SUNY Cortland student body. He said it is a transient population he would like to see as part of one district that can best represent their interests.
“It is not a great concern, but you get a better representation by having that (singular district),” he said.
For Mulvihill, who once was the clerk of the county legislature, the redistricting process should highlight what works and what doesn’t about county government.
“I look forward to sitting down and understanding everyone’s perspectives and where they come from,” he said. “Cortland County is a great place and there are a lot of resources here. The question I want to bring forward is what do we want our county government to look like in the future. Are there opportunities here to help advance our community by way of our system of government?”
Mulvihill also said there are pros and cons to every proposal that has been floated by officials in regards to the number of seats at the county legislature.
“We have to hear from the public about their expectations,” he said. “We want good governance while adhering to the concepts of redistricting.”
McCabe said one of those concepts is fairness.
“I will be opposing any gerrymandering,” he said. “I feel gerrymandering is the single biggest problem in American politics today, and I’d like to combat it at any level I am able.”
County legislator and minority leader Beau Harbin (D-LD-2) thanked committee applicants for their participation.
“I’d like to thank everyone who put their names forward into the pool of applicants. (The selection process) was a tough decision,” he said. “We took a good bit of time deciding this. I look forward to the committee members’ input as we go forward.”
