Ed Michalenko for Town Supervisor

After 11 years as Town Councilor, Ed Michalenko now serves as the Dewitt Supervisor. He has chaired the Dewitt Solid Waste Committee and Traffic Task Force, and has served on the Engineering, Budget, Fire Protection, and Advisory Conservation Committees.

Ed designed Dewitt’s tiered Solid Waste Removal System that lowers costs and promotes recycling. He helped establish a Town Park at Fiddler’s Green along Butternut Creek, and serves as a founding Director of the Fiddlers Green Park Association. He opened Board meetings to the public and has been a strong advocate of the environment. Ed stopped a proposed coal gasification plant in Jamesville and is working with the property owner to fund and plan a green development.

Ed’s current plans include:

• Establishment of a long term budget strategy to hold the line on property taxes;
• Development of a townwide network of parks, trails, and recreational facilities;
• Implementation of a storm water management system to mitigate runoff in flood prone neighborhoods, improve water quality, and enhance the environment; and
• Acquire alternate energy systems for Town facilities to lower our carbon footprint and reduce costs.

Edward M. Michalenko, Ph.D. serves as President of the Onondaga Environmental Institute (OEI). The OEI is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to public education, scientific research, environmental planning and restoration in Central New York.

Dr. Michalenko is currently administering several grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for the revitalization of Onondaga Creek, habitat enhancement and non-point source pollution control to Onondaga Lake, and water quality monitoring and public education in support of the Onondaga Nation.

He received a doctoral degree from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) at Syracuse, NY in 1991. Dr. Michalenko has performed research on effects of chemicals in the environment including the Solvay wastebeds, which form the western shore of Onondaga Lake; and mollucsides used to control zebra mussels in industrial cooling waters, sewage sludge additions to strip-mined reclamation sites, and supplemental wood preservative applications to utility poles in Adirondack wetlands.

He conducted the first basewide Ecological Risk Assessment of a military installation at Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL, and designed and implemented the first field monitoring program of an aerially applied pesticide for non-agricultural purposes.

Dr Michalenko has co-authored five books and over 40 technical publications on environmental fate and effects of chemicals for the USEPA, National Library of Medicine, and Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry. A former High School Biology and Chemistry teacher, he has also held adjunct faculty positions at ESF and Syracuse University, where he taught courses in ecology, the American environmental movement, environmental science, and environmental education for teachers.