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Republican Josh Czyz and Democrat incumbent Aileen McNabb-Coleman, who was chair of the Legislature for a couple years, are vying to represent District 5, which is made up of Owasco and Sennett.

While speaking to Ë®¹ûÅÉAV about topics impacting the county, Czyz said he does not feel feel the chair of the Legislature should oversee the county's daily operations, and referenced McNabb-Coleman's time in the role from 2020 through 2021. The Legislature approved raising her pay by more than double in August 2020, citing her extra work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Czyz, the executive director of operations with Marketplace Chaplains, said the pay increase was "not the best way to handle things," although he acknowledged the position's salary was later reduced. 

As an alternative to the current model of having the chair run the county's day-to-day operations, Czyz said he is open to either filling the county's administrator position that has been vacant since 2019 or creating an elected county executive position. He added that if the administrator seat was filled, he would want that person to have freedom to take on day-to-day work without "micromanagement" from the Legislature.

"The Legislature should be the policymaker and the administrator should implement the policy, and leave the day-to-day administration to the administrator, if that's the approach we're going to take," Czyz said.

When speaking to Ë®¹ûÅÉAV, McNabb-Coleman said she feels from personal experience that the Legislature chair should not oversee operations by themselves. Doing so without an administrator was "incredibly daunting," she said, noting that she oversaw more than 30 departments, more than 700 employees and a budget of around $160 million. The chair position, she argued, does not have the time nor the resources to run operations alone. 

While the chair "can build networks and advocate at the highest level for the county," McNabb-Coleman continued, she feels the county requires a professional manger to deal with the daily work. 

"Someone needs to oversee operations, to put out the fires and make sure that services are being rendered, and the service delivery needs to be of the highest quality," she said.

When talking about public funding of economic development agencies such as the Cayuga Economic Development Agency and the Cayuga County Industrial Development Agency, Czyz said he feels there should be an analysis of whether those funds have been used effectively. He believes he could also apply his collaboration experience to ongoing conversations around the agencies.

"I have leadership experience and I tend to be a collaborator and I try to bring some sort of consensus," he said. "So with the IDA and CEDA — what I would like to do is learn, get people to the table and discuss what's best for the county." 

Czyz also addressed how the county could benefit from Micron's intended $100 billion investment in central New York. 

"Should Micron become what it has promised to become, there are innumerable feeder companies that would need to source Micron and become a distribution source for Micron, and I think Cayuga County is the right corridor to make that happen," he said.

However, Czyz said he would like to hear more from residents about Micron's presence in the area: "There are some things that people don't want in their backyards."

If elected, Czyz said his priorities would be facilitating "family-friendly communities" where people want to stay and work. Ensuring the county has clean drinking water, working with businesses, public safety and reducing the tax burden on community members are all part of that goal. Czyz also wants to make sure people have options when voting for Legislature candidates, he said.

Regarding CEDA and the IDA, McNabb-Coleman noted she is part of an ad hoc committee looking at CEDA's future and what economic development vehicle the county will use in the future.

"I've come to the realization that Cayuga County has not been excited about funding CEDA," she said.

Though she thinks the county has benefitted from CEDA and she believes in its mission and value, the legislator wants the county to have an economic development vehicle it's excited about.

"As long as the county Legislature uses public funds, we all need something that we can feel good about," she said.

The Sennett-based legislator, who is the county director of constituent services for state Sen. Rachel May, also lauded the work done through a county committee created late last year to capitalize on the Micron investment. McNabb-Coleman is on a resulting subcommittee focused on workforce development, while other subcommittees focus on energy, housing and site development. Conversations on these topics have allowed officials and professionals to come together to talk about preparing for Micron, she said.

While she feels Cayuga County would be a great place for supply chain businesses that could open in Micron's wake, McNabb-Coleman emphasized that the work of the subcommittees could help attract other businesses to the county. With that in mind, she noted that economic development would be one of her top priorities if reelected.

Water quality and protecting the Owasco Lake watershed is also important to McNabb-Coleman. The watershed is crucial for Cayuga County municipalities beyond Auburn and the town of Owasco, she said, because that water is sold to other communities in the area. She also wants to work on "quality of life" issues, such as improving broadband access and upgrading county parks to "promote year-round family-friendly programming."

The election, which will be held on Nov. 7, is for a four-year term. The number of county Legislature districts will decrease from 15 to 11 in 2024.