PLATTSBURGH — The City of Plattsburgh has a new mayor.
In front of family, friends and colleagues in the packed Common Council Chambers of City Hall Thursday, Wendell Hughes was sworn in as Plattsburgh’s 30th mayor by City Court Judge Matthew Favro.
“In four years, hopefully we can look back and say ‘wow, look at what we did,’” Hughes, a Democrat, said after he took the oath of office.
“…I’m still kind of shocked, this is amazing.”
Hughes, a former corrections officer of 32 years and most recently the Clinton County legislator for Area 8 the last four years, was elected in November after beating former mayor Don Kasprzak, a Republican, in the General Election.
Hughes kicked off his candidacy in February of 2024 after then-Mayor Chris Rosenquest announced he would not be seeking re-election.
Since first announcing his decision to run, Hughes has been adamant the Plattsburgh City Police Department and finding a permanent chief to lead it, would be his top priority and repeatedly stressed the importance of increasing public safety in the community.
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Improving recreation, economic development, infrastructure and finances in the city were also at the top of his list throughout his campaign.
After Thursday’s swearing-in ceremony was over, Hughes told the media his priorities hadn’t changed.
“The police department is still the police department, bringing growth to the City of Plattsburgh, making sure people know the City of Plattsburgh is open for business; we want you to come to Plattsburgh, and we want you to build here,” he said.
“Any project you have, please bring it to us … I just want to make sure people understand the City of Plattsburgh is going to be a more positive environment from here on out.”
WORKING WITH THE COUNCIL
Hughes, who had almost every member of the council attend Thursday’s ceremony, said the city can expect a better relationship and more positivity between them and the mayor’s office going forward.
“I think that says a lot,” he said of the councilors being in attendance.
“I’m really excited about working with the council .. I really think we can do some great things.”
In the coming days and weeks, Hughes will also have the rare opportunity of appointing someone to the Ward 2 seat, which became vacant when Jacob Avery resigned late last year, as well.
Asked about his plan for that seat, Hughes said he is working on it.
“Hopefully, I’ll have something for you in the next day or two. The holidays made it really rough, so I didn’t want to bother folks at home during the holidays. So now … we’re back to business,” he said.
“I do have a couple that are interested. There’s a couple people I’m interested in. So we have to vet it with the council, it’s going to be a group decision. It’s not going to be me and me alone.”
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Hughes plans to take a collaborative approach with the council on many issues moving forward. He said he even wants to sit down with the council and revisit previously proposed projects that did not get approved in the past.
In recent years, projects like Prime Plattsburgh LLC’s apartment proposal for the Durkee Street parking lot and the Saranac Lake-based developer’s plans for a waterfront hotel at the harborside are just a couple that never came to fruition for a variety of reasons.
“We’re going to work together, and a lot of it’s going to be done working with these six folks and going over some of the projects, maybe, that didn’t make it through in the past,” he said.
“Maybe, why didn’t they get through? and what can we change to get them back on the table?”
Pursuing grants will be important as well, he said.
But, just recently, at their last meeting of 2024, councilors rejected a measure that would have awarded a $41,000 state grant to an engineering firm to conduct a feasibility study on the city’s hidden gem: Sailor’s Beach.
“Any grant that we can get for the City of Plattsburgh is a bonus for us,” Hughes said about the grant money Thursday.
“We have a lot of infrastructure issues, too, that we have to deal with right away. Our water treatment plant needs some upgrades. and as you guys know, our water reservoir dam is failing. We have a lot of infrastructure. If we don’t have a solid foundation in the City of Plattsburgh, it’s hard to grow. So we have to collaboratively do all these things together and keep the city affordable at the same time.”
DEPARTMENTS
Issues like recreation, which was made more challenging when the rec department was dissolved under former Mayor Colin Read, may take longer to solve.
As of now, Hughes said he doesn’t plan to make any departmental changes in the city.
He said he would love to maintain “what we have.”
“We have really good department heads. We have to treat them right, because we will lose them. So we have to concentrate on what we have. Retention is huge. People sometimes overlook the retention aspect,” he said.
“And we have some people that are going to be retiring, so we have to get a replacement plan for them too. Again, we have to keep the city affordable. Affordability is huge … walking around this year, that is one of the biggest issues people bring up.”
Hughes said he will continue to talk regularly with Town of Plattsburgh Supervisor Michael Cashman about a possible collaborative solution for recreation that area children can take advantage of in the future.
In a show of support, Cashman attended the City Hall ceremony Thursday.
Cashman acknowledged how important it is for the town and city to work together because of its shared infrastructure, especially. He said Hughes’ prior experience will be beneficial to growing that working relationship further.
“One of the things that really is of great benefit to both the town and the city at this point is that Wendell was a county legislator that represented a significant portion of the Town of Plattsburgh. He understands a lot of the issues and the needs and where it intersects also with the city already,” he said.
“We had been in constant conversation when he was serving as county legislator, and we’ve spoken every day this new year since so we’re going to continue to move forward. But the value statement that he demonstrated during the campaign of communication, collaboration and compromise are the same values that I hold to be true and (I am) really looking forward to using a model that will be positive for both municipalities.”