Seneca Falls will turn to the state court system to temporarily fill one of its two town justice positions after Steven Kelley resigned, rather than appointing a local replacement who could face voters next year.
Supervisor Frank Schmitter disclosed Kelley’s resignation during the Town Board’s Sept. 1 meeting and laid out three potential paths: ask the 7th Judicial District to assign a temporary justice, appoint someone locally and pay to have that person trained, or leave the town’s remaining justice to handle the entire caseload.
The board ultimately agreed to seek an assignment from the 7th Judicial District in Rochester until the next election.
Kelley, a retired state trooper and Democrat who was elected as one of Seneca Falls’ two town justices in 2024, was recently selected by Republican Seneca County sheriff candidate Mike Passalacqua to serve as his undersheriff.
His departure leaves Diane Draheim as the town’s remaining justice.
Schmitter told the board he had already spoken with Draheim about the possibility of handling the full workload and said she did not want to serve as the town’s sole justice.
That left the board weighing whether to select its own interim justice or ask the judicial district to provide one.
Board member Wendy Crane said during the meeting that several people had contacted her expressing interest in the position and said she generally preferred keeping local residents involved.
Schmitter raised a practical problem with that approach: several potential candidates could eventually seek the office, while the board would have to choose only one of them now.
If the town appointed and trained someone who later lost the election, Schmitter argued, taxpayers would have paid to prepare a temporary justice only to have the eventual winner require training afterward. He said asking the judicial district to provide someone until voters choose a permanent replacement would avoid that risk.
The vacancy comes at a time when Seneca Falls is already operating with several prominent positions unfilled or under temporary arrangements.
At the same Sept. 1 meeting, officials discussed the ongoing search for a town manager and the town’s difficulty finding a permanent licensed water and sewer superintendent. A potential town manager candidate had recently been interviewed, while the water and sewer operation has relied on outside management since the April resignation of Joseph Tullo.
The justice vacancy differs because the town has an established mechanism available through the judicial system to bridge the gap until an election can settle the position permanently.
The board’s decision effectively puts off the political question of who should succeed Kelley and leaves that choice to voters rather than giving one prospective candidate the advantage of serving in the office beforehand.
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