GENEVA — One of City Council’s most outspoken members over the past few years said serious health issues may affect his availability in the coming months.
Ward 1 Councilor Chris Lavin told City Council at its meeting Wednesday that upcoming treatments may affect his ability to be present at all meetings.
“For 17 years I’ve been treated daily for some serious diseases,” he said during the Council update portion of the meeting, adding that his ability to continue working through those challenges is a “testament” to the medical care he’s received through the University of Rochester Medical Center. “I’m a poster boy for someone who has been kept alive for 17 years with serious diseases with constant monitoring.”
Lavin said he will need to be “isolated” for a period at some time over the next three months as doctors provide a treatment that may be a “bit of a ‘Hail Mary,’ probably.”
He said he has mulled resigning, but after talking with Mayor Jim Cecere and his UR doctors, he opted to stay on City Council — at least for now.
However, Lavin said there may be sessions he will absent.
“I’m not going to be in person as often because of those things,” he said, noting that he has not missed a meeting in his nearly 2½ years on Council.
Lavin said he owes it to his constituents to be honest about how his health challenges may affect his Council work.
“I don’t want to just not show up at meetings,” he said.
However, Lavin said he could “reconsider that role” if fellow councilors and Cecere “deem it necessary to leave.”
Lavin has spent considerable time on Council pushing for greater fiscal discipline and the need for the city to look at new ways to deliver services on a more region-wide basis. He believes towns such as Geneva have grown significantly with the help of city services, but with the city not getting enough in return for providing them.
In his first two years on Council, some members were reluctant to support many of Lavin’s initiatives.
“I’ve never lost so many votes in my life,” he said with a smile, “but I think we’re heading in the right direction. I’m very supportive of the mayor’s collaborative and collegial way of going about the very things I think are key to this community growing.”
“We wish you the best as you’re working through this,” Cecere said. “Whereas your voice may be gone, your call to action certainly hasn’t. … We’ll support you in whatever decision you make as a councilor.”
Lavin was elected to City Council in November 2023. He retired as director of the Boys and Girls Club of Geneva in May 2025 after 10 years.
He spent the bulk of his working life as a newspaper editor and reporter at various locations around the country before returning to his hometown of Geneva.