Monroe and Harriman Village officials run unopposed and stay put. Dwyer has plans

With 5440 registered voters in the Village of Monroe, Mayor Neil Dwyer ran unopposed and won another four-year term with 885 votes. Two trustees, also running unopposed, will begin their four-year terms--Martin O’Connor, with 864 votes, and Andrew Ferraro, with 853 votes.

“Twice as many votes were cast this election as in the last election,” said Dwyer. “That tells me that people were more engaged.”

He summarized his upcoming priorities. The first is to review the Village comprehensive plan, which has not been done since 2012, and possibly make zoning changes, he said. His second priority is to address water infrastructure issues, focusing on “safe transmission from the lake to the water plant.” Replacing the water transmission line would be an important step.

Dwyer also aims to find funding to dredge two downtown ponds and facilitate traffic through the village, likely by making some one-way streets two-way, he said.

Meanwhile, the Village of Harriman has 1508 registered voters, and less than 5% voted in the March 15 election, with no candidates opposing incumbents. Mayor Lou Medina was re-elected with 61 votes, Trustee Wayne Mitchell with 59 votes, and Justice Kimberly Van Haaster, with 55 votes.

“Voter turnout was better than for the previous election,” Medina said, “but with more than one person running for each office, more would come out to vote.”

He had no other comments by press time.