PLYMOUTH – All five candidates running for election to the Plymouth Town Council agree that shale gas production issues – from instituting road use law to an out-right drilling moratorium – will be on the government’s agenda in the coming years.
Incumbent Republican Councilman Gary Simpson, 64, is finishing his first, four-year term in office. An active participant in monthly Chenango County Natural Gas Advisory Committee meetings, Simpson said his main objective, if elected to office again, would be to make sure Plymouth isn’t saddled with highway repairs and maintenance costs from the gas industry’s anticipated heavy truck traffic. He said the board is currently reviewing the county’s proposed road use law and is waiting to see how the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation proceeds with its sweeping regulations regarding hydraulic fracturing before proceeding.
Simpson said he is proud to have been instrumental in budgeting for and proceeding with the $360,000 building project at the firehouse and also for locating an income-generating AT&T cell tower on town property. The new town hall structure will accommodate both a courtroom and boardroom.
“It was budgeted for over a number of years, and will be completely paid for once finished,” he said. Near-term future projects would include holding the line on taxation and improving the town’s site for sand storage, he added.
Incumbent Councilman Lewis W. Somers, 77, has been a member of the Plymouth Town Board for 18 years. He is retired, after having worked for 30 years at Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and, later, Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals. While he didn’t have any specific comment regarding natural gas related activities in the town, he said he is always “in favor of anything that’s good for the Town of Plymouth and for the majority of the people.”
Seeing the new town hall come to fruition is an accomplishment for which he takes great pride. “It’s something I’ve been getting after for years,” said Somers. And even though he is running as a Republican, the candidate said he doesn’t believe in political parties and does believe in voting for the person who will do the right job.
Diane J. Bucino, 63, will appear on the Town of Plymouth’s ballot for the first time, though she is no stranger to politics. While she has been teaching Spanish for 10 years in Oxford, the candidate has a political science degree and was a member of the Andover Town Board in New Jersey for 10 years. The experience involved municipal financing projects and budget planning as well as dealing with water quality, flooding and drainage issues.
If elected, Bucino said she would work with the town board to do what’s best for the town. “After all, that’s why we have a board. Four or five heads are better than one when it comes to making the right decision for the majority,” she said.
The Democratic Party candidate is not sure where she stands on the safety of hydraulic fracturing. She is a person who worries a lot about water quality but, on the other hand, she said she wouldn’t want to get the town into a situation where it would have a lawsuit over a ban on drilling.
“It seems like the gas industry is a way to bring some economic growth and jobs into the town, but all we hear about are a lot of negatives about it. We need to really work to attract some kind of business into the town. I want to live in Plymouth for the rest of my life and I don’t want to put us in a situation that’s going to price us all out of town by carte blanche banning everything.”
Plymouth native Kelly K. Cushman, 43, is also running for council as a Democrat. She’s a stay at home mother of two and a 20-year volunteer firefighter for Plymouth. She previously managed her own trucking business for 10 years.
While this would be her first foray into politics, public service runs in Cushman’s blood: her father, Robert Brown, is a councilman and her father-in-law, Gerald, is on the town’s planning board.
“I’m hoping to bring some young blood into the board,” she said.
Cushman said she is concerned about shale gas drilling, but feels she’s only heard opposition to it, not the pro side of things.
“Other towns don’t seem to have a problem with it, and if it could bring money into our town and help keep taxes down, then I’m all for it.”
Candidate for Plymouth Council Peter A. Hudiburg is perhaps best known for his anti-hydraulic fracturing stance throughout Chenango County and in the Southern Tier. He is a member of a coalition of organizations concerned about shale gas drilling, such as Sustainable Chenango, Chenango Community Action for Renewable Energy and Chenango Delaware Otsego Gas Drilling Opposition Group. His independent platform on the ballot is called “Clean Water.”
Hudiburg, who is 68, said he would push for the town to pass a moratorium or ban in order “to gain some control and protection” against shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
“Based on all the reports throughout the country, it can be very environmentally damaging,” he said. “Once somebody’s water is contaminated, that’s a major disaster. If you no longer have potable water, it puts you out of commission.”
Hudiburg is a builder and just completed refurbishing a farmhouse in Plymouth. If elected, he would bring experience in both construction and residential cooperative management to the post.
He said he would be careful and frugal with expenses, and expressed reservations about the current board’s decision to build onto the fire station. He believes the town is already in the midst of a bust cycle after profiting from Norse Energy’s Herkimer sandstone wells over the past three years and may not be able to build its reserves back up. (Norse Energy recently ceased operations and announced late last month that its leases were for sale.)
Voters may cast their ballots from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 8 at the Plymouth Fire Station, 3461 state Hwy. 23, South Plymouth.