Shelby appoints Jim Heminway as acting town supervisor

Heminway won primary for town supervisor but term doesn’t start until Jan. 1

Jim Heminway

SHELBY – Jim Heminway is getting a head start as the Shelby town supervisor.

Heminway won a Republican primary in June for town supervisor and appears to be a lock to win the general election as an unopposed candidate.

His one-year term will start on Jan. 1. However, this evening he was appointed as acting town supervisor until Dec. 31 by three members of the Town Board: John Misiti, Linda Limina and Ed Zelazny.

The Town Board needs either an acting town supervisor or town supervisor in order to file the town budget by Nov. 20.

The board has been without a town supervisor for about two months since Scott Wengewicz resigned in mid-July. Heminway beat Wengewicz in the Republican primary on June 24,  283 to 118.

Board members Jeff Schiffer and Stephen Seitz Sr. also resigned in mid-July. Seitz also was the deputy town supervisor.

The board was left with only two out of five members and couldn’t meet or conduct town business because it didn’t have a quorum until last week. That’s when Misiti joined the board following an appointment by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Misiti, Limina and Zelazny were unanimous in appointing Heminway as the acting town supervisor. He starts in the midst of the Town Board and department heads working to put together Shelby’s budget for 2026.

Misiti, during this evening’s meeting, said none of the three existing board members could be appointed acting town supervisor without resigning their seat. None wanted to do that and Misiti said the appointment could appear biased if they appointed one of the current members.

Heminway brings more than 40 years of experience in working in local industry with 20 years at Sigma (now Baxter) in Medina and then 21 years at Monroe Electronics (now Digital Alert Systems) in Lyndonville.