Uncontested races fill ballots in village elections
hile a handful of villages still have March elections, all of the local ones have uncontested races.
In Chautauqua County, there are two villages with elections on Tuesday – Westfield and Sinclairville.
In Westfield, Dennis Lutes is running for mayor while Lynlee Cunningham and Kathryn Bronstein are running for the two open trustee seats. All three candidates are running on the Republican and Democratic lines.
In Sinclairville, James E. Kianos Jr. is running for mayor, while Dean Houser and William France are running for two trustee seats. Kiantos is running on the Helping Hands Party, Houser is running on the Betterment Party and France is running on the Village Improvement Party. All three seats are for two-year terms.
Sinclairville runs its own elections. It is the only village in Chautauqua County to do so.
In Cattaraugus County, there are seven villages that will be holding elections – Allegany, Cattaraugus, Ellicottville, Franklinville, Gowanda, Portville, and South Dayton.
In Gowanda, Mark Nephew is running unopposed for mayor. Carol Sheibley and Paul Zimmerman are both running for trustee, while Peter Sisti is running unopposed for trustee vacancy. All four candidates are running on the Allegiance Party.
In South Dayton, Robert Killock is running unopposed for mayor. Melinda Frederickson and Jenna Tabak are running for two trustee seats. All three candidates are running on the Republican line.
In Ellicottville, there is a contested race for trustee. Sean Lowes, Chad Neal, and Caitlin Croft are running for two seats. Lowes and Neal are running on the Republican line, while Croft is running on the Community First line.
There are also contested races in Allegany and Portville.
Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m.
In an unrelated matter, on Tuesday, residents in the Bemus Point Central School District will be voting on the proposition for the school district to acquire two electric school buses. If approved, the district would be permitted to take out a Bond Anticipation Note in the amount of $236,000 to cover the local share of purchasing the buses.
Polls will be open in Bemus Point from 2-8 p.m. in the Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School STEAM Room.