Oct. 13, 2026 — Beyond city limits: stories from the Town of Ithaca's supervisor

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Last month, long time local elected official and civil servant Rod Howe stepped down from his most recent role as the Town of Ithaca’s supervisor. He’s served in many different roles in town government over the past 25 plus years, and he’s got a lot of stories.

The town supervisor may not get as much attention as his counterpart over in city hall, the mayor. But overseeing the Town of Ithaca — the more varied, less urban ring of communities surrounding the city center — requires its fair share of leadership savvy.

Ithaca Voice managing editor Jimmy Jordan sat down with Howe a few weeks ago to chat about his time in elected office.

Producer's Note:

Backstory is transitioning to a twice-monthly release schedule so that we can put more of our efforts into the in-depth local reporting that helps power the show. Today's will be our last weekly episode. Our next episode will be Oct. 27.

Our mission at The Ithaca Voice is to provide our community the news they need to make informed decisions and participate in civic life. A big part of that is meeting folks where they are, whether that's on a traditional news feed, a podcast or on social media. We appreciate all the support for the show so far.

Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.

Original air date: Oct. 13, 2026.

Reported and hosted by Jimmy Jordan

Produced by Jimmy Jordan and Megan Zerez.

Cover art image by Anna Lamb/Ithaca Voice.