David Knapp, a Republican, is running to retain his seat as the Onondaga County Legislature’s 12th District representative. Knapp is running unopposed. 

He grew up on a dairy farm in Lafayette. He was a captain in the US Army before returning to the farm and Onondaga County.  

Knapp has been on the legislature since 2012. He is the chairperson of the Planning and Economic Development Committee and also serves on the County Facilities Committee and the Ways and Means committee. 

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

David Knapp, the Onondaga County Legislature’s 12th District representative. Credit: Courtesy of Onondaga County

Central Current: How will you make up for the potential lack of funding for the aquarium?

David Knapp: Well, I think the county executive has a plan for that. 

The legislature approved the first $85 million, and really from that point on, I think we’ve sent a pretty straightforward message that this was ARPA money, COVID money, and we had to use it for things like economic development. 

But part of the problem is the original estimate for the aquarium was done in 2019 pre-COVID. And of course, as we all know, nothing costs what it did in 2019, so we had a feeling it was going to go over budget. 

And so, from the start, we, you know, communicated to the county executive that he was going to have to, by using naming rights and things like that, fill in the gap. That there wasn’t going to be another vote on more funding. And he’s never sent anything over, and so, yeah. 

So, no, so I support what he’s doing, getting it through the private sector through donations and naming rights and things like that. 

Central Current: How will you handle the loss of funding to services like SNAP and Medicaid?

Knapp: That’s a big piece of the puzzle, because, you know, the counties are the ones that actually administer these programs. And so our people, our employees, are the ones that do these programs. And we get reimbursed by the federal and state government for our costs associated with it. 

And so, you know, when those things get cut, it makes it – obviously, it makes it very difficult. And you know, we’re talking some very big numbers here. 

And yes, we have a sizable fund balance, which we’ve worked very hard to make into a really solid rainy day fund. And I just saw an email today that our credit score is {WHAT}, which is, you know, very, very good with a stable outlook. And part of that is because they cited our strong fund balance savings account. 

And so, you know, we have to be really, really careful about using that money to supplement federal dollars when that money will run out very, very quickly. We’re not the federal government. We can’t print money. We have to tax for it, and so with everything else going on right now, the last thing we want to do is raise taxes on folks when everything else is going up too. 

And so, I think we have to – we’ve got some time. The cuts won’t really kick in, from what I’m told, for another up to a year, potentially, and so I think we need to keep a very close watch of it. 

And in the meantime, we’re working very hard to get people out of poverty and off of SNAP.

 And so, I think it needs to be a several pronged approach here, and we wait and see what happens. We’ve already seen some funding get restored for different things, and so, yeah, let’s watch and see what happens.

Central Current: The Legislature passed two resolutions to transfer a parcel of land along Onondaga Lake to the Onondaga Nation. As a legislator, do you believe you have a role in facilitating a transfer? If so, what is that role?

Knapp: So, the first resolution was passed just before I joined the legislature, which kind of tentatively, but not officially, was going to give a piece of property on the lake called Murphy’s Island to the Nation. 

But, of course we’ve been doing the clean up of Onondaga Lake for twenty years now or more, and you know, billions of dollars. But what we found, and a lot of the engineering work and all that, was that this piece of property, Murphy’s Island, was the most polluted piece of property left around the lake.

And so, you know, that wouldn’t really be appropriate to hand over to the Onondaga Nation. And it’s got a railroad track running right through it, and it’s just not a conducive piece of property for anything they would want to do with it. 

And so that’s when, in 2016 we rescinded the 2011 resolution and just kind of opened it back up. And I know the previous county executive, Joanie Mahoney, was negotiating with the Nation. I know Ryan McMahon for a while as well. 

You know, there’s lots of back side issues, or back door issues, whatever you want to call them about, are properties going to be taxable, or zoning and what uses, what purposes, things like that. 

So I know they’re talking but I don’t – you know, the county executive, it’s really his job to put the deal together, and then it comes to the legislature for approval. So I hope they continue talking. 

And the Onondaga Nation is part of my district. I grew up in Lafayette. You know, most of the Nation students come to Lafayette, so I grew up with a lot of the folks down there. And so I certainly want to help them in any way I can. 

Central Current: In a hypothetical scenario where federal funding for Onondaga County is conditioned on the basis of the County Sheriff’s Office cooperating with ICE operations, would you be in favor of supporting that collaboration? Why or why not?

Knapp: Well, I think probably the other folks may have mentioned that that’s not really something we do as the legislature. So from that standpoint, we wouldn’t be involved in it. 

From a personal point of view, if someone is being suspected of murder, or, you know, another heinous crime like that, then I think all law enforcement should be cooperating with each other to track this person down and make an arrest. If it’s just kind of run of the mill, someone jaywalking or something, that’s a whole different story. 

So again, not our purview, but that’s how I feel about it, personally and from an agricultural standpoint. 

Not to drag out this answer. I really think our whole immigration process as far as farm labor is trying to have a one size fits all for a very diverse agricultural industry that one size doesn’t fit all. 

The current program of bringing workers in for six months works fine for the fruit and vegetable farms, the apple farms down here in Lafayette, etcetera. But for a dairy farm, you’re just getting the person trained up and then they have to go back. 

And so, I really think the federal government needs to – I’ve been talking to our Congress people over the years about this. We really need to reform the system so that we have a little bit more flexible approach to this, especially for farm labor, who generally can’t get the help by other means. And, you know, make this a program that works for everybody. 

Central Current: As Micron ramps up, how do you plan to monitor and ensure that Micron lives up to its promises to protect Central New York’s bountiful natural life?

Knapp: Well, you know, again, two pronged approach here. 

Number one, back to agriculture. You know, one thing that we’re really worried about is urban sprawl and things like that that are going to gobble up our wonderful, rich farmland in Central New York, you know, for housing developments and things like that. 

So we’ve been really encouraging towns to look and infilling and things like that. You know, fill in areas and villages and developments that might have space for more housing within them, as opposed to just bulldozing, like I said, good farmland that we’re blessed with and then putting up whole new developments like that. So that’s one concern we’re working on through the Agricultural Council and etcetera. 

On the strict Micron side, as far as them, we just went through the – almost to the end of the process with the whole environmental review. And obviously anything of this magnitude is going to have a pretty thick document. 

And, God, I can’t name all the agencies, locals, county, state, and federal who have looked at this and are all weighing in. And I mean, we’re pushing out the groundbreaking to make sure the Indiana bat is out of the woods. So they are taking all of this very seriously. 

Again, I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but with all the experts that are looking at this, I’m pretty comfortable that, from an environmental standpoint, they’re going through everything possible to protect Central New York. 

And I know out in Idaho, where they come from, they did – all the information I hear from out there is that they’ve done a nice job protecting the natural beauty out there as well. 

Central Current: If ICE approaches Onondaga County and requests sensitive information to aid in what it says is a “criminal investigation” – and refuses to provide more details – should Onondaga County furnish sensitive data from a department like DSS to federal authorities with unclear motives?

Knapp: I thought that was the one I answered before. What was the one I answered before? 

Okay, gotcha. Yeah, you know, kind of again, the legislature doesn’t really get involved in that granular of a question. As far as you know, that would kind of be the county executive’s call about whether to provide DSS, which, you know, he manages the day to day operations of the county. And so that would really fall on his shoulders to make that decision.

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Laura Robertson is a staff reporter covering Onondaga County. Prior to joining Central Current, she lived on the edge of the Bering Strait in Nome, Alaska, where she worked as a reporter for a year. She...