Tammy Schmidt received an enthusiastic endorsement from her predecessor tonight as she was sworn in as the Batavia City Council's Sixth Ward representative.

"I'm here on behalf of Tammy Schmidt, who will do an outstanding job for the Sixth Ward," said Rose Mary Christian, who stepped down last month after nearly 30 years as a city lawmaker. "She's articulate ... and certainly knows lthe budget process (as Schmidt works in the financial management field). I want to thank her for taking my position."

The appointment of Schmidt through the end of next year was reported first on The Batavian.

Photo: City Clerk/Treasurer Heidi Parker, right, swears in Tammy Schmidt as Rose Mary Christian and City Republican Committee Chair Rich Richmond look on. Schmidt was unanimously approved by City Council prior to the board's Conference and Business Meetings. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

Previously: Batavia City Council set to vote on appointment of Republican Tammy Schmidt as Sixth Ward representative

Regarding the vacant position of Sixth Ward representative on City Council, City of Batavia Republican Committee Chairman Richard Richmond invites qualified individuals seeking to serve in this role to submit a letter of interest to him by November 30, 2021. 

Mail Letters of interest to:

City of Batavia Republican Committee
PO Box 260
Batavia, NY 14021

To be qualified for the position, the prospective representative must be a resident of the Sixth Ward and a member of the same political party as the representative who most recently served in the seat—in this case, a Republican.  These are requirements of Section 3-3 of the City Charter. (The recently resigned Council Member Rose Mary Christian was a registered Republican; therefore, her replacement must also be a registered Republican).

The City Republican Committee expects to recommend an individual to the City Council, which has the appointment power to fill the vacancy temporarily.  The Council appointment will run through the calendar year 2022.  At the general election in 2022, there will be a special election to fill the remaining year of the regular four-year term of office for the ward council member position.

“We are happy to report that just in that tract/ward alone, we were able to find an additional 327 people in 2020 that were not counted in 2010,” Oltramari wrote.

He went on to surmise that it was “very unlikely” that 327 net additional people moved into that “southside” ward in the previous 10 years, since the rest of the county lost population and no substantial new housing was built in that ward during that time.

“It is more likely that these people were not counted in 2010 and we were able to reach them through this committee’s outreach efforts,” he said.

He wrote that the committee was tasked by the U.S. Census bureau to target the Sixth Ward due to a probable undercount in the 2010 Census.

Oltramari also reiterated what was reported on The Batavian on Aug. 13 that Genesee County’s population decreased from 60,079 in 2010 to 58,388 in 2020 – but that is more than the Census Bureau’s 2019 estimate of 57,808.

“This no doubt was partly due to this committee’s outreach efforts last year, and we found further evidence of this as we dug deeper into the numbers,” he concluded.

More data on changes for NY State can be found at: https://pad.human.cornell.edu/census2020/index.cfm#pl

Previously: 2020 Census shows Genesee County population fell by 2.8 percent from 2010; City of Batavia gained 135 people

There will be a Sixth Ward meeting held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4^th in the Council Board Room on the second floor of City Hall.

Council Member Rose Mary Christian would like to discuss progress of the Crime Task Force and opportunities to organize a neighborhood group to design and improve residents' safety.   

Martin D. Moore, Ph.D., City Manager