Michael J. Ferguson

Fredonia resident Michael J. Ferguson has announced his intention to run for the position of mayor of the village of Fredonia this November.

A resident of the community for more than 30 years, Ferguson has decided that the time has come to re-enter the campaign trail after a five-year hiatus. Ferguson ran for county executive against current state Sen. George Borrello in the 2017 election season. “The Fredonia community has always been a wonderful place to live, but our county continues to lose residents who are choosing to leave our state,” he said. “It’s time to plug the dam, fix our issues and rebuild a culture of teamwork, and conclusion of needs. The optics are that nothing is getting done, that there are too many long-standing issues that still sit on the docket. It’s time to go to our state leaders, work in cooperation with our surrounding communities and create a vibrant, creative and financially stable community where people will want to live, grow and continue to enjoy for generations to come.”

His announcement came Wednesday afternoon as the village scurried to end the boil-water order that was put in place by the Chautauqua County Health Department on Sunday. A Democrat, Ferguson is the first to announce his intention for the top office in the village. Current Mayor Doug Essek has not indicated whether he will seek re-election and the Republican party said it will make its endorsements later this month.

Ferguson noted a lack of transparency in the current government and mentioned the boil water alert as a perfect example. “There needs to be a process and vehicle put in place to notify all residents and businesses when something like this happens.” Ferguson saod. “It’s our responsibility to the people we serve. Clear, concise and timely communication amongst leadership, department heads and most importantly the community! Five boil water alerts since 2009 are far too many to be dealing with this again.

“If elected, with the help of our trustee team, I will put these important elements in place immediately. Today’s ability to communicate must include a strong web presence, social media content and I propose an emergency phone notification process tied into all of these elements to be able to notify residents and support in real-time.

“We have a great responsibility to all of our residents, both permanent and temporary. And keep in mind that nothing is guaranteed to be permanent. That is why our planning, execution and critical decision making abilities, as a team of elected officials, trusted to move the community forward, is essential to our success.”

Ferguson’s career has taken him from professional sports as an athlete and later as Vice President and General Manager of several professional sports teams. He also served as Executive Director and General Manager of the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena (now Northwest Arena) where he and his team worked with government officials to bring world-wide events, entertainment and franchises to Chautauqua County. He also served as President of the Chautauqua County Visitors Board of Directors and many other community organizations. He currently serves as the Regional Sales and Marketing Director of Fredonia Place and Fredonia Place of Williamsville.

“I have been involved with our government from the local level to state and federal levels at every stage of my career,” he said. “It’s important to be able to work across the aisle to accomplish what needs to get done. If you wait for it to come to you, you’re going to be waiting a very long time.”

Benjamin Franklin reportedly said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

“We need to create a vision for the community, then set the path on making it a reality — specific goals, timelines, deadlines and executing the steps to finalize those plans.”