Village of Owego Mayor Kevin Millar speaks during a March 11 press conference at the County Building about a mailing that reached village voters earlier this week. (Photo by Rick Stilson)
With Village of Owego elections less than a week away, a controversial mailer has one village official in an uproar. On Wednesday, March 11, Owego Mayor Kevin Millar held a press conference to announce he was exploring legal challenges regarding a recent mailing. Millar is a member of the Rebuild Owego party, which is being challenged in this year’s election by the A+ Change party.
The mailing, which reached at least half of the voters in the village, had one purpose according to Millar. “This is clearly a campaign piece designed to inappropriately influence the March 18 village election by misleading the public to think this is an official survey,” Millar said.
The obverse of the mailing features three short paragraphs apparently signed by the Village Public Safety Committee, and lists committee members Ann Lockwood, Mike Phelps, Steve May,= and Karl Jantz. All four are currently Village of Owego Trustees. Lockwood is running for reelection, while Jantz has decided against running again. The return address of the mailing is the Village Public Safety Committee, 25 Delphine St., Owego. That’s the address of May’s Owego Harford Railway.
On the back of the mailer is a description of four potential options for the Owego Police Department (OPD), the main point of contention surrounding this year’s village election. No change, increase OPD, eliminate OPD, or replace OPD with the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department are the four options outlined, along with a return post-card cut-out addressed to Village Public Safety Committee, 25 Delphine St. Respondents are asked to choose which option they prefer for the future of OPD.
Millar said the mailing was not approved nor paid for by the village government, and that the Board of Trustees and Village Clerk/Treasurer Rod Marchewka, and that the use of the title ‘Village Public Safety Committee’ was unauthorized. Millar added that Police Commissioner Jantz was unaware of the mailing.
If a Trustee or someone working for a Trustee paid for its production and mailing, Millar said the mailing needs to comply with New York State election laws. Millar said he didn’t know who was responsible for the mailing, but he was referring the matter to “all appropriate enforcement agencies” for action if election laws were broken.
May came to the press conference with his lawyer, Eric B. Lee from Syracuse. Lee would not let May answer any questions about the mailing, given Mayor Millar’s threats. What May could talk about was the options for the Owego Police Department he blamed Millar for not wanting to pursue. May said looking at options is important.
“Why is the Mayor not open to options? Why isn’t he interested in pursuing options that might be better for the village and its residents?” May asked, “I don’t know if it’s possible to reduce (the Owego Police Department), but how do we know if we don’t pursue options?”
