Ward 3 candidates vie for council seat

Jason Tiffin, Jim Coulthart and Joseph Zifchock lay out their ideas for the city of Oneida.

ONEIDA, N.Y. » According to Joseph Zifchock, if the community wants to grow, it needs to determine what it is.

“I’m running because I think we need to grow our community,” said Zifchock, who is running on the Republican ticket for Ward 3 councilor. “We’re maintaining now, and what that means is we’re not really bringing in new things, new businesses, new establishments. What that does, is the downtown slowly decays. You don’t see people saying ‘Let’s go downtown. Let’s get a bite to eat. Let’s go shopping.’ There’s no reason to bring anybody downtown. One of the things I want to try to do is grow the community.”

Whether that means Oneida grows as an agricultural or manufacturing hub -- or something inbetween -- is up to the community itself, he said.

If elected, Zifchock plans on playing to the city’s strengths.

“We have a lot of land, agriculture and water around us,” Zifchock said. “A lot of places in the United States don’t have that and we have to figure out the best way to put that to use.”

Zifchock began his business career as a public accountant with Deloitte Touche before moving on to Oneida Limited, where he worked in accounting, finance, strategic planning, procurement and marketing. After Oneida Limited, he became director of commercial liquidity at the multi-billion dollar firm Eaton CrouseHinds.

Now retired, Zifchock, who has lived in Oneida since 1982, is looking to spend time developing the city.

“There’s a lot of candidates that basically say ‘I’m going to cut

taxes’. There’s no basis behind how to do that. People say all sorts of things without a plan of action,” Zifchock said. “I’ve got a plan.”

Joseph Zifchock