Rebuild Owego Party trustee candidates Jenny Ceccherelli, Jacque Millar, and Phoebe Morris pause on the steps at the village hall as they get ready to turn in their petitions to get on the ballot for the March 18 village trustee elections. They gathered several hundred signatures going door to door in the past few weeks.
The Rebuild Owego Party is running three candidates for village trustee on March 18 – Jenny Ceccherelli, Phoebe Morris and Jacque Millar.
Jenny Ceccherelli served as a trustee from 2012
2014. She was DPW Commissioner, Owego Historic Preservation Commissioner and initiated NYS DEC grants to make leaf pick up faster and cheaper and a tree grant that planted 50 trees all over the village.
Jenny is a Master Gardener, a member of Tioga Council on the Arts, member of Historic Owego Marketplace (HOM) and serves on the HOM bylaws committee and chairs the HOM Beautification Committee.
She retired from IBM after a 30-year successful career, is married and has three sons. Jenny is currently serving as president of a local non-profit, Owego Revitalization and Betterment Corporation, which raised $23,000 after the flood and gave it to local businesses that were not covered by FEMA Grants.
Phoebe Morris served as village trustee from 2012 to 2014, and as the Finance Commissioner called for the New York State Fiscal Restructuring Board to assess the village’s financial picture and make recommendations on how to improve. Phoebe also fought for and secured $ 1.4 million from New York State to repair village buildings.
She organized a Kickstarter campaign to save the Tioga Theater when it needed to switch to a digital film format. She has managed an independent business, Owego House Productions, for almost 10 years.
Phoebe currently also serves as the treasurer of a local non-profit, Owego Revitalization and Betterment Corporation. Phoebe and her husband volunteer their time with the Historic Owego Marketplace, the Arts Council, St. Patrick School and the Presbyterian Church.
Jacque Millar has been an active participant in the community for almost 30 years. She served on the Tioga County Solid Waste Commission and helped Tioga County adopt curbside recycling. She served on the Board of Growing Years Preschool Program.
Her two children attended Owego Schools where they were active participants in school sports and events.
During the flood of 2011 she provided emergency housing for displaced flood victims and their pets for three months. Recently she designed and provided administrative oversight in the site selection and construction of a medical center built to serve injured workers in Tioga County and seven adjacent Southern Tier Counties.
Jacque has thirty years experience as a Registered Nurse and ten years as a Nurse Practitioner in a variety of settings, most recently at SUNY Upstate treating workers of the Southern Tier.
According to a press release received, these candidates bring a diversity of experience and problem solving skills that will be useful in their roles as trustees. The release continued to mention that their experiences in finance, management and problem solving provide a solid basis to serve the village.
The Rebuild Owego Party supports all village emergency services, the Owego Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services and the Owego Police Department. These three emergency responder departments are all needed to ensure the health and safety of village residents.
The party noted they plan to continue to pursue the adoption of the Community Rating System, which can reduce flood insurance up to 45 percent. They are researching the placement of a large solar array in a Brownfield area that could generate all the villages’ electric needs, thus saving $250,000 annually.
The party stated they would continue to maximize the village’s use of the NY Rising Community Program, which has a primary goal of moving the DPW Barn out of the flood plain, and that they are committed to fiscal discipline and keeping the costs of village services at a minimum.
The Rebuild Owego Party added that they are committed to smart, sustainable growth, and that they will work to make the Village attractive to new residents and businesses by building on their strengths: the people, the infrastructure and their history. Their party symbol “shaking hands” means they are open to working with all residents and trustees to do what is in the best interest of the village, they added in the release.
The Rebuild Owego Party will be hosting a Meet the Candidates night on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Tioga Trail Cafe from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be jazz music provide by Jim Meckley and Nate Kaiser. Come out and meet the candidates, ask them your questions and hear some great jazz.
Election Day is Wednesday March 18, 2015 at the Central Fire Station on North Ave. in Owego from noon to 9 p.m. The last day to register to vote is March 6 at the Tioga County Board of Elections located at 56 Main St. in Owego.
