Brian May, a Republican, is the incumbent candidate for the Onondaga County Legislature’s 1st District. He is running unopposed. May is the majority leader of the County Legislature, and has been in the Legislature since 2012. He is the vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee. 

Brian May, a Republican, is the incumbent candidate for the Onondaga County Legislature’s 1st District. He is running unopposed. Credit: Courtesy of Onondaga County

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

Brian May: The Onondaga County Legislature, Republicans and Democrats alike, drew the line in the sand in the Legislature on the aquarium several months ago, when it said $85 million was all that’s going to be spent. So that’s all that’s going to be spent. There’s no compulsion to make up anything that falls short. 

By drawing a line in the sand, we executed the full authority of our position, and basically said, that’s the appropriation. Now, you know, the County Executive was authorized $85 million to build an aquarium. He has the ability to raise funds, and he is now limited by the amount of funds he will be able to raise to finish the project if there’s a shortfall, and I’ve heard they’re doing well with their efforts. But if there is a shortfall, then the county executive is going to have decisions to make: what stays, what goes, what happens, what doesn’t. But the Legislature is, for all intents and purposes, done with funding the project. 

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

May: Well, there hasn’t been any loss in funding. And if you look at the next budget, you will actually see increases in those important programs. You know, if loss of funding were to occur, it would be, in all likelihood at this point, in 2027, and there’s a lot of real estate between now and 2027 to really understand what any impact will be. We’ll have much better insight on whether or not changes need to be made. But if you look at the upcoming year, despite all the, you know, concern over funding that exists right now, the material effect on the county doesn’t exist yet. 

Central Current: The Legislature passed two resolutions in the past to transfer land to the Onondaga Nation. As a County Legislator, do you believe that you have a role in facilitating a transfer? Why or why not? And if so, what is that role?

May: Well, it goes back to the charter of our county. The administration has a role in such a process, and the legislature has a role. And our role is authorization to do so. I bring it out to really the contractual component of how the duties are broken down between the branches of government — county government, that is. So, our job is to authorize and/or ratify negotiations and dealings that take place. That’s our role. It’s very simple. And, you know, we’ve fulfilled that role along the way, when these issues have come up, and I have every confidence we’ll fulfill that role in the future. 

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? 

May: Well frankly, I don’t know that it would be our prerogative. Hardly an answer, but ICE is a federally funded, and controlled, managed, program, operating on its own volition, within the scope of its duties and responsibilities. If something like that were to come along, we’d take it on, I’m sure there would be spirited debate, but back to the question I just answered for you, these responsibilities, by the Charter of Onondaga County, are very clearly assigned to the stakeholders, okay? 

Our stakeholder is ratification, acceptance of that scenario. Then you have an independently elected sheriff, and you have a County Executive that needs to sign a contract. We don’t manage the people of the sheriff’s department, and we don’t manage the Sheriff of Onondaga County. We control and manage their budget and certain policies and priorities that they maintain along the way in the course of their duties. 

The county executive, again, has contractual control, so you’d have to sign off on such a thing. I’m speaking speculative, because it’s really not my full area of expertise, but ICE, again, is a federal program that has absolutely nothing to do with what a county government does. It’s a whole separate issue attacking a whole separate matter. You know, I won’t deny the controversy around it, or its tactics, but I don’t really feel I’m equipped or even able to give you a valid answer on the question for the reasons I just mentioned. 

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

May: Well, there’s a 20,000 page draft environmental impact study that’s being reviewed right now and worked through by (Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency) and all the stakeholders. The comments that have been given by the community on that document are all being taken into consideration. Again, this part of it is not really within the scope of the legislature, but what’s always in the scope of the legislature is the funding needed to facilitate the project. 

So, I believe — and we have to believe, we don’t have a choice — that OCIDA, Micron, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the federal government through the Environmental Protection Agency, and other stakeholders — there’s an awful lot of accountability in that equation, and an awful lot of claims being made through that Draft Environmental Statement. The legislature even commissioned a separate study of the DEIS — because again, 20,000 pages is a lot to get through. You know, I read two books a month and I can’t get through all of it. And so, we’ve got to have faith in their intent. I mean, think about it, things would go very badly for any of the stakeholders I mentioned if anything went off the rails from an environmental standpoint, you know? So to that end, we have to trust the process. We have to trust the accountability that’s built into this process. And at the same time, you know, the legislature controls the purse strings as to at least the county’s obligation in this process. As far as new money is concerned, it’s going to infrastructure, right? So the cost of pipes to treat, and ability to treat, industrial wastewater. The cost and ability to treat expanded residential needs as a result of the growth that we’re already in. And so, that’s the part we control, that’s the part we influence. That’s the greatest challenge in front of the county legislature, in my view, in the coming years. We just passed a very, I’m gonna call it simple budget with lots of good and important features that move the needle on the priorities of this community. I think [County Executive Ryan McMahon] did a good job with it. 

But the real focus, financially, going forward, isn’t necessarily the budget, right? It’s the amount of money that we’re going to need to spend to facilitate this just unprecedented project, that even as close as folks like me are to it, it’s really difficult to get your head around everything that’s going to be truly needed to make this happen. And one thing that I stand by, and I certainly know the county executive does and my teammates, is Onondaga County cannot be the reason it’s a slow process, while at the same time, Onondaga County government needs to do everything in its power to protect the residents, facilitate the growth, make sure the benefits are gained by the community, etc. Very important. 

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 data from a department like the DSS to federal authorities with unclear motives. 

May: I’m unqualified to answer that question, just in all honesty. I think that’s a question that is better posed to the county’s attorneys, in the sense that I really don’t know what our authority is, but I’ll tell you this. It goes back to — I think it’s applied to two questions so far. It really comes into a third, and that is that the charter of Onondaga County divides authority, okay? And you know, adherence, strict adherence to that charter, is kind of our secret sauce to making sure there’s checks and balances all along the way. The question you just asked me is better posed to the administration. The county law department is part of the administration and I have no doubt that they would be integral to any decision along those lines. And frankly, I’m just not qualified to answer it, because I don’t know what our legal obligation is. I don’t know if they tell us we have to. I don’t really understand that part of it. It’s way out of scope for a little old county legislator like me. 

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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...