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Jim Rowley now sits in an office he never imagined he would call his own. With bare walls and computer monitors yet to be plugged in, Rowley has an agenda to set just weeks into his new role as the chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature.

Last month, Rowley, a Republican, led an unlikely coalition of all six Democrats and two other Republicans to oust the previous Republican chairman, Dave Knapp. Many coalition members said they were fed up with Knapp’s inaction over County Executive Ryan McMahon spending American Rescue Plan stimulus funds without consulting the legislature first.

“I told anybody that wanted to listen that this was a hill I was going to die on because it spoke to the essence of the legislature, which is that we control the power of the purse,” Rowley said. “From my perspective, it’s Government 101.”

Rowley even threatened legal action against the county if changes weren’t made, something which gained little support, he said. He warned he would be forced to team up with Democrats to make change, and that’s exactly what happened.

Now in the chairman seat, Rowley — along with the new Minority Leader Chris Ryan of Syracuse — plan to bring pressure on McMahon themselves, potentially spelling trouble for proposals like the $85 million Inner Harbor aquarium.

Rowley said he prides himself on not having a lengthy agenda, instead relying on fellow legislators to fill much of the monthly meetings. He’s hoping that the unprecedented way he came into power can also kick-start bipartisanship in a legislative body, which has seen less and less of it in recent years, he said.

“I’m not going to take marching orders from the Republican Party, and I’m not going to take marching orders from the county executive,” Rowley said. “I’m going to take marching orders from the legislators. And I truly believe that’s my role: to be an honest broker to everyone.”

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One of the issues Rowley wants to tackle now is an overhaul of the county ethics policy. The county policy has gone untouched since 1990 and is due for a makeover, he said. Rowley also sits on the Board of Ethics for the town of Clay and was on the team that rewrote Clay’s ethics policies after a state audit called the town’s old policies deficient in 2018.

Rowley plans to form a special committee of five members — two members each nominated by the majority and minority leaders and one by himself — to review and rewrite the county policies. Ryan said the idea has his full support.

To reign in McMahon’s spending, the issue that launched him into the chairmanship in the first place, Rowley has a two-pronged plan which will put unchecked spending to bed for good, he said. He’s already asked McMahon to write a letter acknowledging that the spending was against the county charter, to not set future precedent, he said. He is also working on legislation which would retroactively appropriate funds which were spent, which he hopes to have finished for the March meeting.

In the meantime, Rowley understands that the way he became chairman is unique and is now focused on mending bridges with his Republican colleagues, as well as advancing his policy goals. He never even had a conversation with Knapp about McMahon’s spending, he said.

“This coalition will probably never happen again.” Rowley said. “I’m going to give it my best shot and if it doesn’t work out, if I get beat, I’m okay with it. As long as I hold true to my principles so that I can sleep at night.”

Both Rowley and Ryan are skeptical about McMahon’s aquarium proposal, which the executive wanted to break ground on late this year.

“There’s many questions still unanswered,” Ryan said. “Until we find different ways to fund it and get answers to those questions, I don’t see where there’s a path to (the aquarium)”

Rowley and Ryan, who are both on the legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, believe the estimated 490,000 visitors and $800,000 in revenue projected for the aquarium may be optimistic, they said. They also questioned the need for a new tourist attraction in the county given the cost.

On the Democratic side, Ryan is now settling into a role as minority leader that he’s been doing more and more of in recent months, even before the title became official. He’s replacing Linda Ervin of Syracuse, a Democrat who said that it’s time for a new leader after nearly a decade leading the caucus.

“Chris has been right by my side the last couple of years. I had some health challenges last year and he stepped forward and really was doing a lot of the work that I should have been doing,” Ervin said. “At this point, I just decided that there needs to be some new leadership. And I think he was the right person to be the new leader.”

A union man — he is the president of the Communications Workers of America, Local 1123 — Ryan is eager to get down to business and is not shy to share his opinions. He also has a longer list of legislation goals than Rowley.

Ryan wants to focus on advancing legislation out of the Health Committee, he said, especially on filling vacancies in the Health and Human Services and Social Services departments. Additionally, he plans to propose a comprehensive study of sewer infrastructure in the county as well as continue oversight of the implementation of the county’s Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative efforts last year.

Outside of new legislation, Ryan is also leading Democrats’ fight against new district maps passed by the legislature along partisan lines. Ryan is bringing a lawsuit against the county to challenge the maps in court.

“Political appointees drew maps that I believe to be illegal,” Ryan said. “We had a state law that was passed regarding communities of interest and there were various additional stipulations within that law that these district boundaries, in our opinion, violate. So we’re going to bring forth the law and we’re going to challenge it in court. Because it needs to be challenged in court.”

The district maps, approved by the legislature on Dec. 21, 2021, divide the majority-Black District 16 into three separate districts, something which advocates say is illegal. Ryan is currently preparing the lawsuit and hopes to file it “sooner rather than later,” he said.

But even with the many challenges Ryan faces at the start of his tenure, something Ervin said she half-jokingly apologized for, she is confident that he is the man for the job.

“He knows the community. He grew up here, he knows a lot of people in the community here, he’s willing to listen and he’s willing to admit when he’s on the wrong side of something. But he’s not willing to be put down,” Ervin said. “So if someone is challenging him, they better be challenging him on the right facts, because he’ll have his facts. He won’t accept anything halfway. I think that he’s going to be a good leader.”

Published on February 13, 2022 at 10:56 pm

Contact Nick: nickrobertson@dailyorange.com | @NickRobertsonSU