After 125 years, Kenmore Village Board diversity milestone

In its 125 years of existence, village officials estimate, every person who has served as mayor or village administrator has been white.

That changed on May 7, when Brittany Jones, who is black, was sworn in to fill a vacancy on the village board.

“I am honored to serve. And I hope to serve everyone in our community, whether they are black, brown or white,” Jones said in an interview. “I just want to do the best I can for my village and I hope this inspires others to do the same.”

It’s not just about Kenmore. In suburban Erie County, people of color have rarely, if ever, been elected to city or town offices, local historians and longtime officials said.

There are some notable exceptions, like Satish Mohan, a native of India, who won a term as supervisor in Amherst nearly 20 years ago.

But for the most part, city and town board members in recent decades and centuries have been entirely white.

“I think cities and towns, like the ones I know, have missed an opportunity to be more inclusive,” said Dave Sherman, former Amherst town historian, longtime Amherst Bee editor and former administrator of Williamsville.

Jones is a village board member, but his appointment, observers say, offers promise that suburban Buffalo officials will better reflect the diversity found in those communities.

Jones, 34, is a senior law clerk to Judge E. Jeannette Ogden of the State Appellate Division’s Fourth Department.

She grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Kenmore since 2017.

“The people who live here really care about the neighborhood and make sure it’s a wonderful place to live,” she said. “And I have kids, I have a family, so I wanted to have that sense of community, but also that closeness to the city.”

Over time, she sought to become more involved in village affairs.

She discussed it with Patrick Bannister, the husband of another Appellate Division judge and someone long active in the Kenmore community, who suggested she meet with Mayor Patrick Mang.

Coincidentally, this happened when Trustee Lou Cercone resigned after leaving the village.

Being on the village board wasn’t what Jones imagined until, she said, Mang asked her if she was interested in filling the vacancy.

“So I said, ‘Sure, I’ll be happy to serve if the village needs someone to serve in that capacity,'” Jones said.

Ogden, Jones’ boss, swore her in at the May 7 board meeting.

Jones is settling into his new role in the village of 14,900. It’s a place where residents take the time, like at last Tuesday’s board meeting, to implore the village to change its code to curb dog owners who don’t properly control their animals during walks.

Jones said she believes her appointment represents progress.

“There are people who look like me who live in different parts of the city and in various parts of the greater Buffalo community,” she said. “So it’s important that the leaders of all of these villages and all of these different communities – whether they’re in Buffalo or the greater Buffalo community – are represented. »

Mang said the village is becoming more diverse. Census figures show the village is 82 percent white and 6.6 percent black, with the remainder being of another race or multiple races.

He said a desire to diversify the village board did not drive his decision to recommend Jones to fill the vacancy.

But Mang said he was aware of what another new trustee said in describing the demographics of recent board members.

“As Andrea Czopp likes to say, ‘We are men, pale and stale,'” said Mang, 66, who is seeking to bring new blood to the village government.

The Kenmore Village Council shares a meeting room in its municipal building with the Tonawanda City Council. Photos of old municipal councils are visible from the walls.

Images from decades past show rows of white men until, about 50 years ago, white women entered the picture.

The situation is similar in other neighboring suburbs, although it is impossible to say with certainty.

Jim Sharpe, a former Grand Island city board member and deputy supervisor, said that to his knowledge, Grand Island has not had a person of color on its city council.

That could change this year. Wayne West, a black man who failed to win a seat on the city council last year, is campaigning again as a Democrat in this fall’s special election for a vacant position on the board.

In Amherst, Mohan, an engineering professor at the University at Buffalo, led a campaign to win the race for supervisor in 2005.

After the election, he said at the time, some critics, including anonymous online bloggers, called him a “little brown man” and called him fake Indian names.

And at a meeting in December, when the elected supervisor attempted to speak to the public before a vote on a resolution, a city council member chastised Mohan, saying, “You might not like that, but in this country we have rules.

Other than Mohan, Amherst has not had a person of color on its city council, Sherman said to the best of his knowledge.

Part of the reason is that those in a position to decide on political endorsements typically support people they know well – that is, candidates who look like them, he explained.

As a result, Sherman said, “There is no person of color that would come to mind, for example, if you name three or four people that your party or your group would consider nominating or appointing.”

The same is true in Williamsville, which was incorporated in 1850, at least to Mary Lowther’s knowledge. Lowther is a former village mayor, trustee and longtime village historian.

“I mean, women started getting elected, probably in the ’70s,” Lowther said.

Cheektowaga Supervisor Brian Nowak said he doesn’t believe a person of color has ever served on the city council. But diversity within the board of directors is now the subject of a legal battle.

It was started by Ken Young, a black man who ran unsuccessfully for city council last year. He argues that the board should be divided into wards to better represent the voting interests of the city’s minority residents.

What do “firsts” like Jones’ nomination mean?

Although landmark events, such as Barack Obama’s election as the first black president, have been rightly recognized, Henry-Louis Taylor, director of UB’s Center for Urban Studies, said we should long ago spent celebrating most of these achievements.

Whether a person of color gets a job, no matter how prestigious, matters less than what the job holder intends to do, Taylor said.

“The reality is: Black faces in high places don’t mean anything unless they’re fighting to make a change,” he said.

Jones has six months to get to work before he must report in November to fill the remaining years of Cercone’s term.

Certainly, that’s an easier task in Kenmore, where uncontested elections have become the norm.

“I hope so,” she said, laughing. “But if it doesn’t, I’m willing to do my best.”

Reporter Natalie Brophy contributed to this report.