Assemblyman Marc Butler addressed the Town of Webb Board as a special guest during the board’s meeting on Tuesday, as he gears up for a new term—if reelected in November—in a newly drawn assembly district that will be implemented in January.
He said there is confusion about the new district, and he sought to clarify.
He prefaced his comments by stating that he hopes to earn reelection and continue to serve in the state assembly.
“My district, the new 118th district, will continue to include northern Herkimer County,” he said, which of course includes the Town of Webb.
Redistricting will also have it expanding northward, further into the Adirondacks, he said.
“I have picked up Hamilton County, nine townships in St. Lawrence County, and six townships in Oneida County, that spread west of Rome.”
But he’s lost territory too.
“They’ve cut everything below the Mohawk River off—I’ve lost about 40 percent of Herkimer County,” he said.
Still, the district has grown greatly in geographical size, Butler said, who describes it as sprawling.
It is larger than many Senate districts, and will present challenges to whoever represents it, according to Butler. That’s one reason why Butler said he was in Old Forge on this day. He said he is getting on schedule with all the town boards he will be representing in the new district.
“I want to give the town boards that I represent, or hope to represent, an opportunity to express any concerns, any interests, any problems that they have,” he said.
The board took the opportunity to bring Assembly-man Butler up to speed with the bear problems experience in the Town of Webb this summer.
They also assured him that he will be hearing more about bear concerns now that his district will be including the bulk of the Adirondacks.
Butler said he’s ready for it.
“Personally, I am very excited,” he said about his new district and “being cut into” the north country.
“It’s a rural district—there’s some agriculture—but I will have the majority of the Adirondack Park. I’m really excited about the prospects of representing that area,” he said.
