Special Election for Vacancies on Yorktown Town Board Set
After months of squabbling and at loggerheads, the Yorktown Town Board finally agreed last week on how and when to fill two vacancies on the board.
Supervisor Michael Grace, a Republican, and Democratic Town Board members Vishnu Patel and Susan Siegel unanimously decided to schedule a special election for Tuesday, March 10 for residents to vote on seats formerly held by Nick Bianco and Terrence Murphy.
The board was given the option to hold a special election by 75% of voters last November in a special referendum. Prior to that, vacancies on the Town Board in Yorktown could only be filled by majority appointment, something the board was unable to accomplish despite several attempts.
Patel and Siegel initially objected to Grace not preparing a resolution for last Tuesday’s meeting before he made a motion for the special election, but they ultimately opted to go along with it.
“My overall goal is to get this board up to five members,” said Siegel. “We don’t want to vote for resolutions we don’t see. There have been too many instances where words have been changed.”
Siegel noted she had suggested two registered Republicans with “extensive volunteering experience in the town” for Grace to consider for appointment, but they were not accepted.
“It didn’t work out, so let’s have the best men or women win,” Siegel said.
Last year, Grace had recommended Rich Campanaro, who ran and lost on the Democratic ticket in 2011 and 2013, or former Town Justice Ian Gilbert, a Democrat, be appointed to fill the seat left empty at the end of 2013 when Dave Paganelli was elected highway superintendent, but his choices were not supported by Bianco or Patel.
Bianco then retired in October and Siegel was victorious in a special election last November for the final 13 months of Paganelli’s unexpired term, defeating Republican candidate Tom Diana.
One of the victors in the March special election will serve the last nine months of Bianco’s unexpired four-year term. The winner of the other special election will serve the last two years and nine months of Murphy’s unexpired term. Murphy was elected last November to the state Senate.
Diana, who lost to Paganelli as a Democrat in 2013, has announced his intentions to run again for the board in March. Other Republicans who have expressed interest include former Yorktown Chamber of Commerce President Joe Visconti and former Yorktown Councilman Greg Bernard.
On the Democratic side, Gilbert is among the hopefuls, as is former Yorktown Councilman Jim Martorano, Yorktown Small Business Association founder Bob Giordano, Mohegan Lake resident Evan Bray and Rosanne Brackett, who has been a vocal opponent of Grace and the proposed natural gas pipeline.
The Republican and Democratic committees are expected to make their nominations by the end of the month.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
