Former Albion mayor won’t run again for elected office

Photo by Tom Rivers – Ed Salvatore, president of the Albion Exempts Club, serves up a plate of spaghetti during a dinner at the Exempts today. Salvatore volunteers as manager and cook at the site.

ALBION – Ed Salvatore, Albion’s mayor for eight years from 1998 to 2006, won’t seek the position in the upcoming March village election. Nor will he run for village trustee.

“I’m done with politics,” Salvatore said today. “I’m going to hang my political hat up.”

Salvatore the past two months considered another run for Village Board. The mayor’s position and three trustee seats are all up for election.

But Salvatore, 83, said a spot on the Village Board would force him to cut back at the Albion Exempts Club, a social organization of the Albion Fire Department. Salvatore spends about 25 hours a week at the Exempts, managing the site at 143 South Clinton St.

“I don’t want to give that up,” said Salvatore, who has been a member of the Fire Department for more than 60 years, including a stint as fire chief.

Salvatore enjoys volunteering at the Albion Exempts Club, including Thursday spaghetti dinners.

He is president of the Exempts Club and volunteers as a cook for the club’s Thursday spaghetti dinners, which are open to the public. He has filled the Exempts Club with historical photos and artifacts from the fire department.

Salvatore also has served as chairman of the Albion Republican Committee, but he no longer is on the committee.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties will pick their village candidates during caucuses later this month.

Salvatore is spending some of his free time working on the restoration of a boat. He hopes to have it ready for the summer.

“The only sign I’m putting out in my front yard is ‘Gone Fishin’,” he said.