O’Brien’s owner also announces write-in campaign in Medina

O’Brien’s owner also announces write-in campaign in Medina

Jeremy Hogan – Photo by Erin Townsend

MEDINA – A second write-in candidate has stepped forward today after only one candidate submitted petitions to run on the ballot for the March 18 village election.

Jeremy Hogan, co-owner of O’Brien’s Tavern in Medina, announced his write-in campaign this afternoon. Owen Toale, a former village trustee and retired newspaper editor, also announced a write-in campaign this morning.

Toale was against village dissolution and sees shared services with the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway as a way to reduce taxes in the community.

Hogan thinks it could take a more drastic step to make a significant dent in Medina taxes, which have the highest combined tax rate – $54 per $1,000 of assessed property – in the Finger Lakes region.

Hogan said consolidation of local governments would reduce taxes.

“I supported dissolution as a route to consolidation and a means to bring the Towns back to the discussion on consolidation,” Hogan posted on Facebook. “I did not view the vote against dissolution as a vote for the status quo. Rather I saw, and repeatedly heard, it as a rallying cry. A call to get back together. There is a solution we can all get behind, one that saves us all tax dollars and removes layers of inefficiency and that is consolidation.”

Hogan, 43, worked in the software industry before returning to his hometown four years to co-own O’Brien’s.

He supports the One Medina effort that would see the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway merge into a new “Town of Medina.” The village government would go away with another push for dissolution.

“We ARE Medina,” Hogan writes on Facebook. “Whether you live in Shelby or Ridgeway, you were a Medina Mustang. Your mail comes to Medina, NY. When you’re running errands, you don’t say ‘I’m going to the Village’ you say ‘I’m going into Town.'”

Hogan said he supports Todd Bensley for village trustee. Bensley, a Medina teacher and village historian, is the only candidate who will appear on the ballot.

“I’m not one to play along party lines or get into petty political boundary games,” Hogan said. “We can craft a solution that lowers taxes for ALL of us. Town and Village. We can have a solution that brings ALL of us, together, into the future.”