A new year at the Rochester City Council brings new opportunity to address some of the most pressing issues facing the city.
Those include financial challenges and zoning changes as well as homelessness and affordability.
That work begins Friday, as Councilmembers meet to swear in new members and elect leadership. City Council’s key responsibilities include approving all spending and regulating land use.
This year will see a change of two Councilmembers on the nine-member board. At-large Councilmembers Willie Lightfoot and Kim Smith decided not to run for re-election this year. They will be replaced by Chiara Smith and Lashunda Leslie-Smith. The political dynamics of Council will remain relatively the same: Chiara Smith ran on the socialist People’s Slate, as did Kim Smith in her run for office. Leslie-Smith, meanwhile, ran on a slate of more moderate Councilmembers, including Council President Miguel Meléndez and Councilmember Mitch Gruber.
For Meléndez, the top priorities for 2026 range from continuing to boost the city’s code enforcement system, to bettering the city’s fiscal planning, the latter coming as the city is “weening” off of federal COVID relief dollars and continuing to see declining sales tax revenue. He also is working to release a report later this month on homelessness in the city.
“I’m a jack of all trades Councilmember and plan to be working on many things simultaneously, as always,” Meléndez said.
Both Meléndez and Gruber pointed to the upcoming Zoning Alignment Project as a key focus of the next year. That project is meant to redo the city’s zoning code to follow Rochester’s comprehensive 2034 plan. That plan is a set of priorities and policies meant to spur development and economic growth in the city.
“It's moved a bit slower than people anticipated, in part because it was almost done at the end of the last administration, and then this administration wanted to take some time with it,” Gruber said. “But now 2026 has to be the year that it gets across the finish line. This should unlock huge potential in our community for hopefully generating new building, generating new types of business opportunities. It's really something that our city needs to welcome us in the 21st century.”
Martin, meanwhile, set the top priority as passing an ordinance for a living wage in Rochester. On Jan. 1, the minimum wage is slated to increase from $15.50 per hour to $16 per hour statewide, outside of New York City where it will increase to $17. Beginning in 2027, it’s set to increase by the three-year moving average of the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers in the northeast.
"We know that's not enough, that's not livable,” Martin said. “Prices of everything are increasing, and the wage stays essentially stagnant. So really focusing on how we can get working families access to a living wage so that they can afford things like housing, food, childcare, and all the things that they need to live.”
Martin said the top two issues city residents are facing are the same as they’ve always been: poverty and housing instability. Alongside those is a need to continue lead abatement in city housing.
