Ithaca's new mayor, council take first steps toward 'a new era of efficient government'

Ithaca’s newest mayor, Robert Cantelmo, is a familiar face to anyone who’s followed Ithaca’s Common Council in recent years.

On Wednesday, he sat at the head of the table as he pondered the city's laws and regulations with the council many times before, as its new common council members awaited their official swearing-in.

Cantelmo's first act as mayor was to thank previous common council members who had just completed their last terms.

"I'd like to, in my first act as mayor, offer some thanks to some former colleagues," he said.

Leaving counselors

George McGonigal served over 10 years on Ithaca's Common Council and Administration Committee and brought a notable sense of calm and comedy to many previous meetings according to Cantelmo.

"During this time, he has represented his constituents with good humor, perfect attendance and a strong work ethic," Cantelmo said.

Cynthia Brock served in the First Ward for four terms and was the first Asian-American elected to Ithaca's council, advocating for environmental concerns of city residents through her 12 years working with the city.

Rob Gearhart served on several "key city boards and commissions" according to Cantelmo and had an "instrumental" role in instituting the city's new City manager governmental system in his eight years serving on the council and city committees.

Laura Lewis served as interim mayor during the Coronavirus pandemic, guided the search for a city manager, and worked toward green energy initiatives in her time serving as Ithaca's mayor and five years as alderperson of the city's Fifth Ward in years prior.

Donna Flemming served the city for over 10 years, representing the Third Ward for three terms, and helping to finalize the concept of a city manager in Ithaca.

Jorge DeFendini represented the Fourth Ward for two years, served on the city administration committee, alongside a number of other city and town of Ithaca committees, and represented a large portion of the city's student population.

New council

The following alder-persons now make up Ithaca’s common council as of Jan. 3:

• Mayor Robert Cantelmo

• First Ward Alderpersons: newcomer Kayla Matos and Phoebe Brown

• Second Ward Alderpersons: Ducson Nguyen, Kris Haines-Sharp

• Third Ward Alderpersons: newcomers David Shapiro and Pierre Saint-Perez

• Fourth Ward Alderpersons: Tiffany Kumar and newcomer Patrick Kuehl

• Fifth Ward Alderpersons: newcomers Margaret Fabrizio and Clyde Lederman

Cantelmo also swore in Nguyen as acting mayor and Haines-Sharp as alternate acting mayor Wednesday.

Introducing a new way of doing things

Cantelmo announced his candidacy for mayor of the city shortly after incumbent Mayor Laura Lewis announced last year that she would not run in this year's election. He had served on the common council since 2021 until he was elected to the mayor’s seat this past November.

This election marked not only a change of faces in Ithaca’s governmental seats but a change in Ithaca’s government itself with the introduction of the city manager role approved late last year, now filled by Deb Mohlenhoff.

City Clerk Alan Karasin described the governmental switch in an interview last November, just before Mohlenhoff was approved for the position.

“The idea is that the mayor is still a mayor still elected, but actually has a greatly reduced role,” he said. “You can consider (former mayor) Laura Lewis as the CEO of the organization."

"Now, that would change as the city manager becomes the non-political CEO and the mayor is still in charge of the city's direction, in terms of the projects, plans and long-term goals, basically more representing the people who elected them mayor as opposed to worrying about, you know, payroll issues and how the organization is designed,” Karasin said.

Karasin said that the goal is to have the city manager in position longer than a mayor, giving long-term consistency to financial and business planning for the city. However, the efficacy and term-length of the position was still up for council decision.

This leaves Cantelmo, Mohlenhoff, and the council to carve out the position of city manager, establish the position’s influence as Ithaca transitions to a new type of government, and as Cantelmo said in his State of the City address which he read aloud Wednesday, “usher in a new era of efficient government, of responsive government, and of transparent government.”

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This years council seems ready to take the concerns of Ithaca residents head on as it pondered expanding the time laid out for constituents to publicly comment at common council meetings, moved by Matos.

The council adopted a new purchasing policy to allow the city manager the same purchasing power that the city mayor's seat has previously held. This decision will be reviewed yearly, and changed as needed through a common council vote.

It also resolved 22 bond agreements totaling $35 million which were already passed by the previous council and were before the council Wednesday for resolution. About half of those bonds are reimbursable according to Deputy Controller Scott Andrew, meaning that once allocated to city projects, the city would receive county or federal reimbursement funds to cover their cost.

Brown brought up prospective future common councils and asked how they would be able to vote on bond resolutions extending into future years.

“How do we make sure that if something like this happens again, that the council is aware of this?” Brown said. “This conversation concerns could have been a point in discussion or something like that.”

“You're speaking to the need to properly equip future prospective councils with the technical knowledge they need to adjudicate on these issues,” Cantelmo replied. “I know that the city manager is planning on helping orient us around the prospective budget process going forward, so thank you.”

Each of the 22 bond agreements were passed unanimously by the council. Funding from the bonds is poised to go toward several city projects, including designs and improvements to Cass Park, the design and creation of a transportation action plan for the city, various transportation improvements, and the design and construction of a Fire Station on the city’s East Hill.

“As we look to future economic opportunity for all, we must be guided by a clear vision," Cantelmo said in his address to the city. "Therefore, I ask my colleagues to work with me to develop an economic development strategy for the city to build an inclusive, affordable, sustainable and dynamic Ithaca. Our city manager and administration have my full support and I'm eager to partner hand in glove with them for advancing the interests of our community.”

The first city managers report

Toward the end of the meeting, Mohlenhoff gave her inaugural report.

“This is new for all of us so I’m going to tell you what I intend to do in a monthly report and will look for feedback from you in terms of what you're looking for in terms of a report from the city manager," she said. "What I intend to do in future months is sort of give you a picture of where we’re at in terms of implementing a plan."

"As you know our controller (Steve Thayer) has actually retired as of the end of last year. He is still very graciously coming in a couple of days a week to help us with some of the transition while we search for a new controller. Scott who was here earlier will be serving in an interim capacity while we search.”

The previous candidate for city controller withdrew last year prompting the city to begin another hiring process for the position late last year. The city is also seeking out a new director of Human Resources and city attorney.

Job postings have recently gone out for those positions according to Mohlenhoff.

In past meetings, the city controller would give a verbal report each month, but Mohlenhoff suggested Wednesday that her team would be putting together a stripped-down monthly report for inclusion in Common Council agendas each month.

She asked the council about their preferences for any information that they'd like to see in a monthly controllers report.

“If there’s data that you’re looking for once a month, let me know so that as we’re designing that report, we can get that ready for February,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: Ithaca new council's first steps