Fifth Ward Common Council member, Laura Lewis, was appointed to the position of Acting Mayor by former Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick at the start of 2022 and was recently elected to carry out the final year of the former Mayor’s four-year term. Mayor-Elect Lewis will be the city’s last full-time mayor since the public approved a referendum to establish the position of City Manager by a margin of nearly 80 percent on Election Day. There will still be a part-time Mayor that is elected, but administrative responsibilities will be transferred to the City Manager.
Mayor Lewis’s first weeks in elected office have been underscored by a number of controversies — most notably the issues that city employees have expressed over contract negotiations and the former Director of Sustainability resigning over issues with the City Attorney. These issues have presented a challenging start to her term that expires at the end of 2023, but Lewis remains optimistic that the city will follow through on its priorities.
In addition to dealing with these controversies Lewis said her top priorities included finding someone to fill the position of City Manager, investing in affordable housing, infrastructure and following through on the goals of the Ithaca Green New Deal.
In a recent interview Mayor Lewis told The Ithaca Times, “my top priorities are always looking at the city”s needs. The interests of the city are my key focus.” She continued saying, “right now we have staffing concerns, as all organizations across our community and across the country, have staffing concerns.”
Ithaca’s Issues
In response to questions about how she plans on resolving the current conflict between some members of the Common Council, city employees and the City Attorney, Lewis said that she couldn’t go into detail but that she “understands that city staff are working under tremendous pressures and expectations.”
She continued saying, “I and all members of the common council have the greatest interests of the city as a whole in mind. We have terrific city staff, and like many organizations across the nation and across the state are dealing with staffing shortages, and that is such a complex challenge dilemma. And there are lots of different factors that play into that.”
According to Lewis one of those factors is that the tax base in the city of Ithaca is limited. Lewis said, “We have 57% of property in the city of Ithaca that is tax exempt. So that has an impact on what we as a municipality are able to afford.”
When asked if Cornell University’s tax exempt status affects what the city is able to afford Lewis said, “57 percent of property is tax exempt. Every school, every church, every nonprofit — including Cornell University — is tax exempt.” Lewis continued saying, “we cannot change that, it is federally determined. So when some members of the public rightly ask questions about this, we want them to know that we are constrained by laws that are not determined by the city of Ithaca.”
Affordable Housing
Lewis also said that housing is an issue she has been concerned about for many many years because she grew up in rental housing. According to Lewis, “I grew up in a single parent household. So I understand how important it is that we have quality and affordable housing because the cost of housing in the city is high.” She continued saying, “I do recognize that we see displacement of residents from the city. I’m especially concerned with the displacement of people of color moving out of the city because of costs.”
The Mayor-Elect has repeatedly said, “we need housing at every price point across the city.” In addition, she says that as the city looks at sustainability, it’s important to provide housing in the center of the city, where people have access to transportation and amenities that the city wants people to be able to take advantage of.
Lewis continued saying, “we want to provide a walkable city for our residents. At the same time, we want to provide parking for those who commute in to work in the city or go to cinemapolis or restaurants.”
Lewis mentioned the importance of the construction of the Founders Way affordable housing development and said there are an additional 181 affordable housing units being built next to city hall.
When asked what the average rental price for one of these units would be, Lewis said, “I can’t quote prices for you because it will depend on if it is a studio, one bedroom, a two bedroom.” However Lewis did say that the City is “looking for housing to be affordable at the 80% of area median income.” According to Census data the individual median income in Ithaca is $38,732 — 80 percent of that would be $30,985.
Additionally, the Ithaca Housing Authority says that those who qualify for affordable housing can choose between paying a flat rental price or income adjusted rental price annually. Flat rental prices range from $783 for a one bedroom apartment to $1,747 for a five bedroom apartment. These prices are based upon the market rent charged for comparable units in the private unassisted rental market.
According to the Ithaca Housing Authority, “Income-Based Rent is a tenant rent portion that is assigned based upon the family’s income and the total tenant payment that is assigned.”
Addressing Homelessness
The lack of affordable housing is a growing issue in the city that’s becoming more apparent as homelessness is increasing, leading to residents occupying unsanctioned encampments because they have nowhere else to go.
In response to questions about how the city is going to address the growing homelessness crisis Lewis said, “I have appointed a working group to look at unsanctioned encampments and to develop a policy and talk about implementation of policy.” According to Lewis there may be a recommendation from this working group sometime in January.
The IGND
When asked how the city was planning on following through on the goals of the Ithaca Green New Deal (IGND) Lewis said, “we’ve really built upon a good deal of the work that Dr. Aguirre Torres did while he was working as director of sustainability.” She continued saying, “some people become frustrated with the slow process of government, including city government, and I understand that. At the same time, I am interested in long term sustainability goals that we can achieve.”
According to Lewis, “sometimes that means we don’t do something as fast or as quickly as some members of the public might like to see. But what’s important is that we’re building in the long term.”
Finding a City Manager
Part of Mayor Lewis’s job of building in the long term over the course of this term will be working with the Common Council to find someone to fill the position of City Manager by the end of 2023. In response to questions about how she plans on working with Council to find someone to fill the position Lewis says that her goal is to hire a chief of staff who will bring all the skills that the city wants to see in the first city manager.
She continued saying, “common council will be very involved in hiring and overseeing the city manager position”
Advocates of the shift in city government organization believe that creating the City Manager position would allow for more efficiency in city government because it would put a professionally trained administrator in charge of administrative duties. It would also provide more consistency to the city government rather than being subject to shifts due to changes in the mayor position. These advocates believe that such efficiency and consistency will, for example, be important in following through on the police reimagining plan.
However, some residents have expressed concern about the fact that the City Manager would not be an elected position and would instead be appointed by the mayor and common council.
Acting Mayor Lewis responded to these concerns by saying that a City Manager would make government more efficient and that residents’ influence over the City Manager would be felt through their votes for Common Council members. “The [City Manager] is publicly accountable because they report to the Common Council and the Common Council is elected,” Lewis explained. “If the public views the City Manager as not being effective in their role, residents would contact the Common Council because that would be the overseeing body.”
The Council would have the opportunity to hold the Manager accountable at monthly meetings. However, the proposal to create a City Manager says that the position would have a four-to-five-year contract. While any such contract would contain grounds and procedures for termination of the City Manager prior to expiration, firing a City Manager prior to the end of their agreement would not be simple.
Supporters of the proposal say that giving up the ability for voters to elect the CEO of the city is a positive thing because an elected Mayor is not required to have relevant administrative experience, and that potentially continuous four-year turnover could lead to instability in administrative oversight and accountability.
Any manager appointed by the Common Council would have to be qualified and have experience handling major administrative and budgetary responsibilities. While anyone can be elected Mayor, only professional managers meet the eligibility requirements for the City Manager position.
