Bensley, Toale win in Medina

Tuk, Covell re-elected in Lyndonville

Photo by Tom Rivers – Owen Toale, left, and Todd Bensley were elected to two-year terms on the Village Board today. The terms begin on April 1.

MEDINA – Todd Bensley and Owen Toale were elected to two-year terms to the Village Board today.

Only 311 voters came out, down from the nearly 1,500 that voted on Jan. 20 public referendum on the village dissolution.

Bensley led with 285 votes followed by 180 for Toale, who was a write-in candidate. Jeremy Hogan, co-owner of O’Brien’s, also was a write-in and received 98 votes.

The two-year terms will start on April 1. Bensley and Toale will replace Mark Irwin and Mark Kruzynski, who didn’t seek re-election.

Bensley and Toale were both outspoken against dissolution leading up to that vote. They believe cost savings can be achieved by working with the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway.

“I don’t think enough effort has been put in with the towns to find common ground and solutions to problems,” said Toale, a retired newspaper publisher and public transportation manager.

Toale has served on the Village Board before. He believes his management experience will be an asset to overseeing village services.

Bensley is a teacher at Medina. He teaches AP government and participation in government.

“I teach the kids about civics and about giving back to the community,” he said.

Bensley has been active in the village as historian, and a member of the Boxwood Cemetery Commission and Planning Board. He will have to give up his appointed positions on the Planning Board and Commission to become a Village Trustee. He expects he will also step back from historian to devote more time to village trustee.

Bensley said he will continue to promote Medina history and work on projects at the cemetery, which was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places.

He would like to see more economic development for the community, more attention on vacant houses, and more aid from the state for the village and a greater share of the local sales tax from the county.

The village also needs to work on its infrastructure. “That’s on everyone’s mind as we drive down the roads,” he said.

In Lyndonville, incumbents Charles Covell and James Tuk – both unopposed in today’s election – each received 15 votes and were re-elected.