March elections in Lewis County: 3 vying for 2 Lowville trustee seats

Salmon has 20 years of experience in local politics. He has been a village trustee since 2012 and was previously Lowville mayor from 1995 to 2003.

“As the village has been entrusted to me for 20 years, I wish to continue,” Salmon said. “I want to be involved with the fair distribution of the $10 million DRI grant. I would continue to ensure that the right questions are asked.”

He is concerned about finances in the village.

“The village will continue to be challenged by unfunded mandates and lack of revenue stream,” he said. “Further, we are one of about 10 counties that does not share sales tax revenue. The municipalities — all towns and villages — in this county deserve a fair share. I will continue, if elected to pursue this issue.”

Salmon worked for W.B. Payne. The South Lewis High School graduate holds an associate degree from Jefferson Community College, Watertown.

He is a member of the Lowville Elks and past president of the Lions, He had been involved for 38 years with the Little League Baseball and is currently the district administrator. He has served as a football official for 45 years and 35 as a girls basketball official. He was the Football Official of the Year in 2023 and received the Central NY Chapter NYS Merit Award for football officials in 2022.

He and his wife Sue have a son Michael and three daughters, Andrea, Stacy and Tracy, all of whom live in the village with their children.

Terrillion, retired president of Nortz Distributing Co. Inc., has been a trustee since 2020. He holds an associate of applied science degree from SUNY Canton and is a graduate of the SUNY Utica business program.

He hopes to “continue to bring stability to the board, both ethically and fiscally;” to “foster continued positive cooperation between village, town and county boards,” and to “have an open mind and ear to constituents.”

He feels the greatest concerns for the village is public safety, aging infrastructure and a stable tax base.

If reelected he said he would continue to address these areas.

“As far as public safety I will continue to work in my position on the personnel committee with the police chief to get our force up to full staff,” he said. “In my position on the finance committee I will continue to work toward continuing our infrastructure upgrades as funding allows while being a good steward of our finances and budget to keep our taxes in line to hold at bay the inevitable tax increases for as long as possible.”

Terrillion is a life member of the Lowville Elks, belongs to the Sons of American Legion and is an exempt member of the Lowville Fire Department.

He has been married for 48 years and has two children.

Austin has been the chief of the Lowville Fire Department since 2019 and was assistant chief for three years prior. He joined the department in 2017. Although he has no municipal political experience, he had been attending the village board meetings since 2019 to represent the fire department.

“I am running because I think the next four years are going to be extremely important for the village of Lowville and it’s important to make sure we continue to move forward with the current projects ongoing and any new projects on the horizon,” he said. “I think my experience as a numbers guy would be an asset to this village to ensure that our budget continues to optimize its line items, seek additional funding sources, while also working to keep the rising tax rates to a minimum.”

If elected, Austin would not seek another term as fire chief as the fire department is a department of the village. His term as chief ends April 1.

“I would not call what the board is currently facing issues but rather great opportunities for this village,” Austin said. “The biggest opportunity the village trustees will face over the next four years is properly managing the Downtown Revitalization Funding that was just awarded to the village. I would like to ensure that these projects that get funded do indeed benefit the village of Lowville, because that is who the money was officially awarded to. I would also like to see the village continue to look for additional funding sources and/or grants which can be used to continue upgrades to the village Infrastructure while also ensuring costs to the taxpayers stay minimal. The five-street project was a great start that the current village board saw and was able to implement with minimal funding increases to the taxpayers, but I would like to see the Village continue to upgrade its infrastructure so that our water and sewer systems will continue to be operational in the years to come.”

Austin has worked for Lewis County Public Health since 2015 in several capacities — account clerk, public health planner and currently as fiscal manager. He is also a state fire instructor for Lewis County and since 2016 has worked for the Office of Fire Prevention and Control. Austin has been an account consultant since 2015 for North Country Memorials and previously was office manager.

He is a member of Abundant Life Community Church of Lowville and is married with two children.

In the village of Castorland, current trustee Heidi Lehmann was the sole nomination for mayor.

Current mayor Mervin Moser and current trustee Scott Moshier were nominated as trustees.

The polls are open from noon to 9 p.m. March 19. Voting in Lowville will be held at the Board of Elections office, 7513 E. State St. and at the Castorland village offices, 5189 Route 810.