Mayoral races to be decided in 2 villages today

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

Mayoral races in Corinth and Middleburgh are the highlights of what will otherwise be a quiet round of village elections today.

Most of the villages in the region have no contested elections.

Corinth Mayor Bradley Winslow, 55, a Republican, is seeking a third four-year term. He is being challenged by Dennis Morreale, 66, a retired rural mail carrier and member of the Better Choices independent party.

Winslow said his No. 1 priority is economic development in the village of 2,500 residents.

“After 10 years of hard times, I see light at the end of the tunnel,” Winslow said about plans to redevelop the former International Paper Co. mill property in the village and create local jobs.

The papermaker closed the mill a decade ago after being the major employer in the village for 100 years.

Morreale said he is running so that village residents have a greater voice in local government. He said he supported those who forced a referendum on the village being dissolved and becoming part of the town of Corinth.

The dissolution initiative was voted down by village residents earlier this year.

“People should be allowed to have a choice,” Morreale said.

He also wants to see the old IP mill property redeveloped and wants to work with the town of Corinth to see that this happens.

Morreale said he is concerned about some of the village board’s decisions in recent years, especially the handling of a devastating fire on Main Street in 2008 that left a portion of the village’s commercial district in shambles.

He said in Lake George there was a fire in the commercial district and the area for cleaned up within months, while the debris from the fire in Corinth wasn’t fully cleaned up for several years.

Morreale is a 30-year member of the Corinth Fire Department and also a volunteer member and emergency medical technician with the new Jessups Landing Emergency Medical Services squad.

Morreale is running with two other Better Choices Party members, Mitchell Saunders and Timothy Halliday.

They are challenging incumbent Leigh Lescault and Republican-endorsed candidate Timothy Murphy of Walnut Street for seats on the village board.

Polls are open from noon until 9 p.m. in Corinth at the Village Hall at 244 Main St.

In Middleburgh, Schoharie County, Mayor William Ansel-McCabe is seeking a third, four-year term and is being challenged by current village Trustee Matthew Avitabile of the Middleburgh First Party and Thomas Wargo of the Direct Democracy Party.

William Morton and Robert Tinker, both members of the Middleburgh First Party, are running unopposed for two vacant village trustee seats, according to village officials. Polls are open from noon until 9 p.m. today in the village hall on Railroad Avenue.

In some villages, new faces will be elected to positions unopposed. In the village of Ballston Spa, for example, Courtney Mancini is running for the village trustee position vacated by Donna Thomas.

In the village of Round Lake, Mayor Dixie Lee Sacks and Trustee Caroline “Carry” Woerner are running unopposed for another term. The village trustee seat held by trustee Christopher Nellison remains open and will likely be filled by a write-in candidate, according to Village Clerk Lois Whitbeck.

In the village of Waterford, newcomers James Wichelns and John Fairclough are running unopposed for two village trustee seats previously vacated by Ben Kelts and Ray Rocque.

In the Fulton County village of Broadalbin, two incumbents, Lawrence Cornell and Lewis “Eric” Jones, are running unopposed for new terms.