It’s election day for 3 villages in Orleans County
Voters will choose Village Board members in Albion, Lyndonville and Medina
Photo by Tom Rivers: Candidates for Medina Village Board speak at forum last week at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library. The candidates include from left: Marguerite Sherman and Mike Maak for mayor; and Austin “Mat” Mosher, Tim Elliott, Debbie Padoleski, Jeff Pasnik and Mark Prawel for trustee.
Voters in three Orleans County villages today will elect members to the Village Board.
Medina has the most candidates, with seven seeking three positions, including mayor.
In Albion, two candidates will appear on the ballot, but two others are mounting write-in campaigns.
In Lyndonville, only two candidates will be on the ballot for three positions. The mayor’s post won’t have a candidate on the ballot, but incumbent John Belson is running again – as a write-in. Two others also have announced write-in campaigns for trustee.
Holley, the other village in Orleans County, has its election in June.
MEDINA – In Medina voting is from noon to 9 p.m. at the Senior Center, 615 West Ave.
Recent elections in the village have been quiet, with candidates typically unopposed.
But this time there are a lineup of seven candidates for three positions.
Medina will have a new mayor on April 1 because Mike Sidari isn’t seeking re-election after 8 years. He was elected in 2016, running with Marguerite Sherman and Tim Elliott.
This time, Sherman is running for mayor with Elliott again seeking trustee. Sherman is recently retired as a special education teacher and Elliott is an entrepreneur who currently works for LynOaken Farms.
They are joined on “The Village Party” by Debbie Padoleski for a trustee position. Padoleski retired in June 2021 after 41 years in Medina’s clerk’s office, including the final eight years as clerk/treasurer.
Three other candidates are running as a team with “Roots of the Past, Eyes on the Future Party.” Michael Maak, a retired captain in the Medina Fire Department, is running for mayor. He works as a paramedic for the Gates Ambulance.
He is joined by Austin “Mat” Mosher and Jeffrey Pasnik who want to be trustees. Pasnik is a council rep for North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters in Cheektowaga. Mosher is a former Medina firefighter who now works as regional safety manager for United Refining Company and Kwik Fill as safety and compliance officer.
Mark Prawel, a retired Medina police officer and owner of an auto repair business, is running as a trustee under the “United Party.”
Click here to see a nearly two-hour candidate forum last week at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library.
LYNDONVILLE – Voting will be from noon to 9 p.m. at the village office, 2 South Main St.
There are three positions on the ballot and all are for four-year terms.
No names appear for mayor, but Belson is running a write-in campaign. Belson, the mayor the past eight years, missed the deadline to file petitions by one day. He is retired from Kodak and also served as Yates town supervisor.
Anne Marie Holland, a current trustee, also missed the petition deadline and is running as a write-in. She is retired from Lyndonville as a special education teacher and director of special education.
Justin Edwards, a Marine Corps veteran and highway worker for the Town of Yates, is also running as a write-in for trustee.
Two candidates turned in petitions in will appear on the ballot.
Steve Colon of North Main Street is running under the “Tax Payers Party” and Danny Woodward Jr. is running under “The Voice of the People Party.”
Woodward has been on the Village Board the past 12 years. He has been an active firefighter for 31 years, including as fire chief.
Colon is active in the Conservative Party and has run for the Yates Town Board.
ALBION – Voting will be from noon to 9 p.m. at the village office, 35 East Bank St.
There are two trustee positions up for election and two candidates will be on the ballot, although two others are running write-in campaigns. The positions have four-year terms.
The write-in candidates include Faith Smith, director of the Orleans Koinonia Kitchen, and William Gabalski, who said steep tax increases in the Albion community are making the community less affordable.
Greg Bennett has been endorsed by both the Republican and Democratic Party for the election. He works as a locksmith at the Albion Correctional Facility. He has been there nearly five years. Previously, he worked a decade for Baxter Healthcare in Medina. He also has been a long-time youth baseball coach.
Jeff Holler is running with the Republican line. Holler worked as an executive chef for 25 years, and then head cook for 13 years at the Orleans Correctional Facility. Since he retired in 2014, he has been a very active member at the Masonic Lodge.
There are several letters to editor about the election on the Orleans Hub. Click here to be directed to the letters to the editor.