Chad Ryan at Pat Hogan's election night watch party. Credit: Arthur Maiorella | Central Current

Editor’s Note: Chad Ryan’s opponent, incumbent Legislator Shawn Fiato, declined to participate in Central Current’s pre-election Q&A series. Central Current’s election coverage is supported in part by a grant from the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York.

Democrat Chad Ryan will challenge incumbent Shawn Fiato for the Onondaga County Legislature’s 8th District seat.

Ryan, a co-owner and operator of the Edward J. Ryan and Son Funeral Home and a former Syracuse City councilor, will appear on the ballot under the Democratic Party line on election day. He is seeking to represent a district that will encompass parts of the city, as well as portions of Geddes and Westvale. 

Fiato, a Republican, was appointed in January to the position by County Executive Ryan McMahon.  

McMahon appointed Fiato after Democratic Minority Leader Chris Ryan was elected to represent New York State’s 50th Senate district. Chad Ryan is Chris Ryan’s cousin.

Chad Ryan, who graduated from SUNY Canton and Corcoran High School, emerged victorious in a contested two-candidate primary in June with Democrat Tammy Honeywell. 

The Onondaga County Democratic Committee backed Ryan as their designated candidate in February. 

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

Central Current: How will you make up for the potential gap in funding needed to build the aquarium?

Chad Ryan: I don’t think it should be on the Legislature to find these funds. This was a project put forward by the county executive, and he has taken steps to say that the county is going to fill funding gaps with private donations. 

And so I don’t want the onus of this project’s viability to be on the County Legislature. I think these funds could have been spent elsewhere better, and so, I don’t think the Legislature should be held responsible for this project.

CC: How will you handle the potential loss of funding to services like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP— and Medicaid projected in the federal budget?

Ryan: These programs are mandated by the state, so we do have to provide these programs. We will probably look for some direction from the state itself, seeing what possible resources we can get from them. 

Here at the county level, we have a very healthy fund balance, and if there is a situation where necessary services are needed to be provided, I would advocate that we use some of that. You wouldn’t want to make it something that you do every year, but a one-time injection of funds to try to cover some gaps in the meantime while things settle out. 

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

Ryan: I think you got to look at each individual parcel. I haven’t been privy to some of those conversations and negotiations on how you would do land transfers. I’m sure there’s stuff that goes into it with maybe remediation or rights on some of the stuff there. I think all I can commit to doing is listening to both sides and trying to advocate for what is best for all parties moving forward.

If we have property that we are not using or that should be returned, those difficult subjects should be addressed, or at least discussed. 

CC: In a hypothetical scenario where federal funding for Onondaga County is conditioned on the basis of the County Sheriff’s Office cooperating with the operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would you be in favor of supporting that collaboration with ICE? Why or why not?

Ryan: Is this funding in addition to whatever is already there, or are these funds we are currently receiving? If we are operating in a fashion of autonomy, and you are basically holding a carrot out there, saying: ‘Hey, we’ll give you some more money if you do this,’ I would be against cooperation. 

I think our priority here is to keep the citizens and the residents of Syracuse and the county safe. I don’t think it is necessary to chase money to try to help a cause that I don’t think serves the purpose of what the police are there to do.

If we are losing funding that we already receive, I think it gets a little more difficult there. I think the first order business is figuring how much money we are talking about and can we fund this gap?

I just have a hard time using local resources when we’re having a difficult time retaining sheriff’s deputies. They can get paid in any other police department in the county more to go somewhere else. Retention and staffing are an issue within the sheriff’s department, and we’re going to take our resources and spread them thinner for other causes that are supposed to be addressed by other departments at the federal level? These sheriff’s deputies are not meant to do that.

CC: As the arrival of Micron looms, how do you plan to monitor and ensure that Micron lives up to its lofty promises to protect Central New York’s bountiful natural life?

Ryan: Whatever that entity is that is responsible for protecting the interests of the county needs to make sure they’re doing a good, thorough job. My job as a legislator will be to be informed and be in contact with them, and make sure they have the resources and the funds to properly investigate or audit whatever necessary information needs to be audited. 

CC: If ICE approaches the county and requests sensitive information to aid in what it says is a “criminal investigation” – and refuses to provide more details – should the county furnish sensitive data from a department like the County Department of Social Services to federal authorities with unclear motives?

Ryan: I would argue that that’s not necessary. You can’t just hand that stuff out without knowing what is going on.

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Eddie Velazquez is a Syracuse journalist covering economic justice in the region. He is focused on stories about organized labor, and New York's housing and childhood lead poisoning crises. You can follow...