Terry Fennelly

I am taking this opportunity to acquaint or re-acquaint myself with you as a candidate for the Canandaigua Town Board. I have been endorsed by the Town Republican Committee for this position.

I am originally from Hornell, NY, and graduated from the College of Ceramics at Alfred University with a BS degree (‘68) followed by an MS degree (‘70) in Ceramic Engineering. I was commissioned as an officer in the US Army and served in a reserve capacity until my discharge as a Captain. I spent 30+ years in engineering and production management positions in the electronic component and electronic materials industries. My wife, Mary Ann, and my family moved from the City of Canandaigua to the Town and have lived here since 1984. We have three grown children and four grandchildren and, in fact, have three generations living in the Town now!

I first became interested in Town government over 20 years ago. We were really starting to grow and I took an interest in how that would occur and where and applied to become a member of the Planning Board. My experience as an engineer and manufacturing manager had instilled in me a desire to know what was coming at me and I felt my experience could help our Town. I was a member of the Planning Board for several years and was Chairman from 1/2005 - 12/2006. That experience led to my interest in the Town Board and I was first elected in 2009 and have served on it from 2010 to the present.

During my time on the Town Board, I have also chaired the Planning and Public Works Committee - given my engineering background this area offers great appeal to me. In this capacity, I played a central role in guiding the Town’s decision to replace the old Highway Garage. Once approved, I helped facilitate the design and construction of the new Highway Garage. Likewise I provided the same efforts to upgrade the Canandaigua Consolidated Water District’s pump station and water storage tanks. I have also served on various Town Board Committees such as the Ordinance, Finance and Comprehensive Plan Committees. I have also served as Deputy Supervisor during 2023 and again in 2025.

As I have spent almost 20 years on the Town Board and Planning Board collectively, I have seen and participated in the growth and needs of our community. Over that time period, we have added considerably to our population in numbers of people, structures, parks and needed services. Given projects in the pipeline, we can expect to see continued growth in all of these areas. Managing this growth has been challenging as you can imagine. We have been fortunate in finding professionals across a wide spectrum of skill sets that have joined the Town Hall staff and are serving our residents professionally and confidently. Having people specifically trained and educated in areas such as public/municipal administration provides for a consistency not previously available. As this change has been implemented over the past 5 - 6 years with the addition of the Town Manager position, it has provided continuity in daily operations and long term planning as Supervisors and Town Board members come and go.

We continue to use the 2021 Comprehensive Plan as our guiding document whenever there are Zoning/ Code updates needed or policy decisions to be made. It also keeps us centered in protecting the balance between growth and maintaining our scenic rural character. This Plan represents the collective desires of the Town’s residents and was developed with tremendous resident input.

It is my belief that we need to continue to protect our greatest asset, Canandaigua Lake. We actively work with the Watershed Manager to facilitate projects to reduce runoff and enable flooding and drainage mitigation efforts. We also have continued to improve communications through an upgraded website and the MyTOC app. Transparency in all areas is also something that we honor and are constantly aware of as we meet and deliberate issues. We use Zoom as a tool to try to reach those residents that cannot make our various Board and Committee meetings. Public safety is also of great importance. Last year we were able to finally get the streetlights along Rte 332 replaced which has greatly improved visibility in that area at night. We successfully had a traffic signal installed at the Rte 5/20 and Hickock Rd intersection which was a known traffic hazard. Also in the safety realm, we were forced to make the decision to completely rebuild North Rd at our own expense - a difficult pill to swallow. This significantly increased our property tax rate as you know. It was not an easy decision however, we had run out of options for grants and assistance. The road, culverts, storm basins, etc were in urgent need of replacement and a sidewalk for residents and kids walking to school was also needed. To my knowledge, there have not been any pedestrian accidents in this area but one would be too many!

In the coming years we will be faced with the closure of the Ontario County Landfill. We are monitoring this closely and will keep residents informed and involved in any decisions as they are needed. Additionally, we have an aging water distribution system (underground pipes) that will need to be upgraded to provide continued, consistent water availability. We are hopeful in getting grants to assist with this effort which will be spread over many years.

Before I finish (I promise that I will) I would also like to add a salute to our Parks Department. We have a fantastic array of parks available to us in our Town. They offer us a wide range of activities including a park that is available to people of all abilities - Motion Junction!! We pay a lot of attention to these parks and will be adding amenities as we go forward. Our Town Board is united in this support and appreciative of the many compliments that we receive.

I guess that I should wrap this up. If you have gotten this far, I thank you!! I’m Irish and once we get going . . . well, you get the idea. I would sincerely appreciate your support and your vote on election day November 4, 2025; I would also ask that you vote for my running mates endorsed by the Town Republican Committee.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve you and our great Town over these past years. As always, if you have questions, please contact me at my listed number on the Town website.