September 8, 2020 - Mayor's Column

In what has been a year of unimagined events, the unusual continues in the form of our upcoming Village election on Tuesday, September 15th. The election was originally scheduled for March 19 and has been postponed several times by New York State to our upcoming date. In the interim, so much has changed as relates to our Village Board of Trustees. To recap, with truly unprecedented turnover in the trustee ranks, Trustee Barton expected to retire in March and Trustee Helen Knapp had stepped in to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Trustee Randy Mayer upon his family’s move to Colorado. Since the ballot was printed reflecting these changes and so dated for the March 19 election which never occurred, Trustee Mark Wood had to relinquish his position as he sold his home in the Village and will no longer have a village address on election day. As a result of Trustee Wood’s resignation and the need to have a full complement of five trustees, I appointed, upon consultation with fellow trustees, Bill Fredericks, our current Chairman of the Zoning Board. Per New York State election law, Mr. Fredericks must now run in next Tuesday’s election as well as again in March 2021 creating a situation unprecedented in our Village government.

As a consequence of the delayed election and the resulting personnel changes, the ballot you will see on Tuesday has the potential for confusion.

To try and simplify:
Under the heading Village Trustee (Vote for any Two) Candidates are Mary Behrens and Helen Knapp only. Mark Wood is ineligible for reelection due to the residency requirement.

Under the heading Village Trustee (Unexpired Term), should you wish to support the continued service of Bill (William C.) Fredericks, you must hand write in his name.

As to the Village Justice election category, everything remains the same.

Unfortunately, absentee ballots sent in earlier which had votes cast for Trustee Wood will result in his votes being invalidated.

However if you are now able to personally cast your vote, it will negate any absentee ballot you may have previously submitted.
The election this year is being entirely run by the Westchester County Board of Elections who also chose the polling place sites. The polling sites are as follows:

Village Hall - Districts 16 & 17 - 200 Pondfield Rd

Fire House - Districts 18, 19 & 21 - Corner of Midland Ave

Christ Church - District 20 & 22 - 18 Kensington Road

Village Hall staff are available to field any questions you may have.