Pittsford, like a handful of Monroe County villages, holds its local elections in March.
But a referendum that's in the works could change that.
During a recent Village Board meeting, Trustee Lisa Cove advanced a measure to set a public vote on moving the village's elections from March to June. The other three trustees supported the measure.
Cove introduced the proposal as a way to better align elections with the village's budget calendar. The March election falls between when the Village Board must approve a draft budget, and when it must approve a final budget.
"All the work that was done by the old board, the new board now has to basically pass the budget, or kind of go back and say we don't like this budget, and has to do a lot of work," Cove said. "So it just didn't make sense timeline-wise."
Mayor Alysa Plummer voted against the proposal, but not because she opposes moving the village's elections, or even moving them to June. She said she'd rather see voters have a choice between moving the village's elections to June or November.
"For me, it's just, if you're going to have a referendum, give people a real choice," Plummer said.
Cove is challenging Plummer for mayor in this year's village election, which will take place March 18. The referendum resolution was not passed in time to appear on that ballot.
Cove said the board will be discussing next steps, which could include holding a special polling day for the referendum.
Both Cove and Plummer said there is another practical reason to move the election: frigid weather.
"When you're campaigning at this part of the world, it's quite cold, and people are not really interested in talking to you, door to door, opening the door, and having (a) conversation," Cove said. "So it's hard to get to residents and really help them understand who the candidates are and what the issues are."
