‘I don’t want to see everything go to DeKalb and Sycamore,’: Cortland mayor-elect sets goals for first 100 days in office

CORTLAND – Cortland Mayor-Elect Mark Pietrowski Jr. said he’s feeling good about having 53% of the popular vote so far in the town’s mayoral election.

According to unofficial results, Pietrowski is ahead of opponents Charmaine Fioretto and Douglas Corson in the Tuesday election. He has 309 votes, while Corson has 137 and Fioretto has 127. Votes will remain unofficial until ballots are certified April 20, according to the DeKalb County Clerk & Recorder’s Office.

Pietrowski said he has already received congratulations and support from his opponents, who have two years left on their town board trustee terms.

“So I’ll be working with them along with other trustees on board to help move the town forward,” Pietrowski said.

Pietrowski said he expects his first 100 days in office to include assessing where the town stands currently, looking at budget data and meeting with department heads. He said he also preliminarily reached out to DeKalb County officials to talk about annexing more land into Cortland as part of his focus to bring more economic development into the town.

Throughout his campaign, Pietrowski said he sought to broaden the property tax base in Cortland because it’s currently heavily reliant on residents. He said it also would be great to bring more jobs into the community.

“I don’t want to see everything go to DeKalb and Sycamore,” Pietrowski said. “I want to see Cortland grab some of those opportunities for itself as well.”

Cortland Mayor Russ Stokes said he wasn’t surprised to see Pietrowski leading the mayoral race, with the years that he spent with the DeKalb County Board.

“The name isn’t unfamiliar to residents,” Stokes said.

Stokes said he thinks whatever Pietrowski may face as the new town mayor wouldn’t be anything that he can’t handle. When Stokes ran eight years ago, he said his goal was to fix problems of recession had left the town and he feels those problems have been fixed.

“The town is in a good position in every respect and far better than the shape it was in when I inherited it,” Stokes said. “I just hope that the town continues to move forward under his leadership.”