Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer
The field will be wide open for those going to the polls to vote in Tuesday's Unadilla village elections. Voting will run from noon to 9 p.m. at the Community House.
Positions on the ballot "" a mayor and two trustees "" will be decided by write-in candidates. In her 15 years as village clerk, this is the first time Suzette Hayes has seen no candidates on the ballot.
To qualify for a position, candidates must meet the normal requirements, including village residency and an age minimum of 18, she said.
Voters will use a paper ballot, with spots to write in the names for mayor and two trustees, she said.
The situation arose from a couple of issues.
Several of those involved said local Republicans missed a deadline in filing with the board of elections to have their candidates form a caucus on the ballot. Their candidates running write-in campaigns are: Trustee David Welch for mayor and Trustee Patricia Corby for reelection. The other incumbent trustee up for election, Gerald Green, is not seeking reelection for another two-year term, Hayes said.
The Democrats held a caucus in January but nobody wanted to run, acting village party Chair David York said. He did not want to speculate on why that was the case. Mayor Linda Bickos, a Democrat, is not running for a new term but later decided to run as a write-in candidate, she said.
The candidates spoke on the issues this week.
Welch said he has a lot of experience that will help him if elected. He has served on the board for four of the last six years, he said.
He has been on the fire department for 15 years, since he moved to the area, he said. He has successfully written grants for the organization totaling more than $200,000, he said. His experience as a project manager at MeadWestvaco in Sidney has also been good preparation for dealing with issues facing the village, such as an ongoing water project, Welch said.
Other projects he would like to work on include developing the village's business community, starting a village website and increasing the use of alternative energy sources to reduce costs.
"These important points can be done with minimal costs and/or available grant monies but make a big difference in our quality of life," he said.
Corby said she wanted to run again to continue working on several issues. This included a project that would bring wind turbines to the village and protecting the water table from possible natural-gas drilling.
Bickos said that she did not want to run again for mayor because she couldn't devote as much time as she wanted to that position, while running her local small business. But she wants to be involved with issues concerning the village, and the trustee position will be manageable if she is elected. Her top goal is working on Main Street improvements and revitalizing local business, she said.
Hayes said that there are about 650 registered voters in the village, and she was hopeful that there would be a good turnout.
