Councilman Jesse Vanucchi To Step Down From Common Council

by Jose Hernandez | October 7, 2025 7:53 am

Councilman of Oswego’s 3rd Ward, Jesse Vanucchi, has announced that he will not be pursuing
reelection. Although his public service career may be currently over, Vanucchi has been and will
remain entrenched in the Oswego Community, continuing his primary career at Novelis

Vanucchi is a SUNY Oswego graduate and currently works at Novelis as both a Senior Process
Engineer I and an internal EMT.

Initially, he had not intended to stay in Oswego for very long, but he said that Billy Barlow was a
significant influence on his decision to remain in town. “Barlow came around and things
were getting a lot better,” said Vanucchi, “when I was in college, there were not many desirable
upscale restaurants in town,

Now we have many more options for the working class separated from the college hangouts with
most businesses being maintained well and walkable in a community that’s not too small.

Barlow was also an influence on Vanucchi’s decision to join the Oswego Common Council.
While leading a project at Franklin Square Park, Barlow came by and showed appreciation for
the work they were doing, which is how they met.

2 years after this initial meeting, Barlow approached Vanucchi, saying, “Hey, don’t turn this
down right away, but we’re looking for someone in the 3rd ward to be a city councilor. I think
you can do it; you’ve been involved in projects in the neighborhood.”

Barlow appointed Vanucchi in September 2023 to fill the term of Kevin Hill, who had taken
another position. Vanucchi was originally a democrat but switched to an independent at the
advice of Barlow. Oswego has a Republican majority, and Vanucchi would face issues with
funding if he didn’t switch to either republican or independent.

“I don’t fully believe in either side,” Vanucchi said while discussing political affiliations, “all the
way left and all the way right are pretty extreme to me. My family is mostly Republican and a
majority of my friends are democrat but also have many friends that are republican and
independent, I am currently registered as an independent, it’s kind of a good way to end
up in the middle and be neutral.”

“When I first took office, I had a lot more free time. I was a Process Engineer II, but I have since
advanced to Senior Process Engineer I. I have a lot more responsibility now,” said Vanucchi. He
would work late hours and had to rush home to change into a suit to attend council meetings,
sometimes missing meetings altogether.

Vanucchi felt that he could not give his ward the fullest attention, so he decided not to run again.
“With my primary job, it’s just difficult. Also, the less you’re home, the less your girlfriend likes
you,” laughed Vanucchi.

Vanucchi says he’d like to return someday, but his current responsibilities are dividing his time
too much. He greatly enjoys his position at Novelis, and plans to focus on that.

Vanucchi has been working at Novelis for 12 years, starting as a Process Laboratory Technician
in the Cold Mill. When Covid started, Vanucchi started to rethink his career and made a career
shift to the Hot Mill as a Process Engineer II, Vanucchi climbed up to Senior Process Engineer I
earlier this year.

For 9 years, Vanucchi has been an EMT. He went through a program at Novelis that gave him a
New York State certification. Vanucchi is on call whenever on-site at Novelis. Novelis
has had its own Emergency response unit on-site for 50+ years under the Scriba Fire Department
Agency but has now been registered under its own agency for about a year.

The internal EMTs are employees of Novelis, and although they may not have the same level of
experience as Scriba’s Basic EMTs, they hold the same certification. Novelis typically only has
calls about once every two weeks or less.

“When a call comes in at Novelis, our emergency response team reacts in a very fast manor to
get to the scene within seconds to a few minutes. From there, the team starts providing treatment
to the patient. Depending on the stability of the patient, we may need to transport the patient off-
site to a hospital by the support of a local ambulance so that we can put our on-site ambulance
back into service and we can return to our primary job.”

Vanucchi originally came to SUNY Oswego to pursue a degree in biochemistry after transferring
from Alfred State. He graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biochemistry, a Bachelor
of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Mathematics, with a focus in diabetes research.

During his time studying diabetes, he received a scholarship to go to the Democratic Republic of
Congo. The Congo is home to medicinal plants that can lower glucose levels in diabetics. He
stayed in the city of Kinshasa along with other students.

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The group worked with the University of Kinshasa, calling it a great experience. “We worked
with them to collect the plants from the countryside, a safe area, extracted it into a powder form,
and then mixed in with orange juice to give to diabetics at the medical center to track glucose
levels,” said Vanucchi.

The powder seemed to have lowered their glucose levels, but they were unable to do a long-term
study. The lack of time in the survey meant that their findings could not be published in an
article.

Vanucchi’s focus has switched entirely to his work at Novelis. “I’ve been involved in more
projects to acquire more gains in the company,” said Vanucchi, “I’m supporting all operations for
the Hot Mill where we produce a couple hundred coils per day. These coils get processed through Novelis and are sold to
automotive manufacturers, can customers, as well as a variety of other customers

When asked if he hopes to stay at Novelis for the rest of his career, Vanucchi said, “I like my job,
I like the company, and all the people I work with. It’s a great place to work, I’d recommend it to
anyone. They are reliable, and I feel confident that my job is secure, regardless of the
circumstances. There have been some rough times, and I still have a job.”

Vanucchi is proud of the work he put into the common council. Some of the things he is proud to
be a part of are keeping the annual budget stable, despite the city reassessments last year.
“Because taxes went up for the people who had homes with higher market value after the
reassessment, the last thing we wanted to do was increase taxes again,” said Vanucchi, “the
hardest thing about it is that material prices are going up, concrete, asphalt, it’s all going up in
price as time progresses. So, when we have a certain budget, it’s tough because prices are going
up. Now we have to start taking things out, and it’s hard to do. But we also don’t want to upset
our residents in the area. There were a lot of upset people after the reassessment.”

Vanucchi’s time at the common council may have come to an end, but he will remain an Oswego
resident. If you see him around town, be sure to thank him for his service to the city and its
residents.

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