General News: Coyne Wins Village Mayor 's Race

Brendan Coyne arriving at village hall after the polls closed at 9 pm.

Trustees Mark Edsall and Doug Vatter after the vote.

Mayor Joseph Gross after learning of his defeat in the polls.

Trustee candidates Andrew Argenio and Jan Smith after learning that the vote count still is inconclusive.

By Charlie B. Scirbona

After almost an hour of waiting for results the only clear winner in Tuesday’s village elections was mayoral candidate Brendan Coyne.

Coyne beat out current village of Cornwall-on-Hudson Mayor Joe Gross two-to-one, with Coyne taking 629 votes and Gross taking 366 votes. Coyne said he was pleased by the outcome and looked forward to bringing the board together.

“I’m happy people showed confidence in me to be their next mayor,” said Coyne. “I want people to feel good about Cornwall-on-Hudson again.”

With a record turnout – at least 995 people cast a ballot -- the race for the two village trustee positions was not so clear. Several dozen supporters of the candidates waited nearly an hour after the polls closed at 9 pm to hear that the current frontrunners in a very tight race were current village trustee Mark Edsall and candidate Andrew Argenio.

Edsall carried 497 votes, while Argenio took 487 votes. Village trustee Douglas Vatter and candidate Jan Smith both had 486 votes.

Shortly after voting ended, all the candidates were called into the village board room as the votes were counted, with only village clerk Jeanne Mahoney emerging to retrieve the absentee ballots from a secure locker to be counted. The ballots had been placed there earlier in the day by order of the Orange County Board of Elections after Argenio witnessed them being opened early by election workers and informed the mayor. The mayor then consulted the board of elections on the matter.

Mahoney said that the final tally wouldn’t be confirmed until Wednesday afternoon when a member of the board of elections could verify the vote count. Until then Mahoney said the ballots had been sealed in evidence bags and returned to the secure locker the absentee ballots had been placed in.

Even with the final results still pending, Argenio seemed somewhat relieved.

“I know it will be contested, and there will be a recount,” said Argenio, “but I’m glad it’s over and I look forward to doing work for the village.” He added that he hoped to begin working on his campaign promises of putting the village code and recordings of board meetings online for the public to access.

Edsall said he hoped to be able to accomplish everything that had been left undone over the past two years.

“It’s been an amazingly close race,” said Edsall. “I look forward to working with Mr. Coyne and getting the board back on target.”

Following the announcement of the election results, Mayor Gross quickly left the board room and, when asked for a comment, said that he would make a statement on Wednesday. One of his supporters, Barbara Hembree, said she was “shocked” by Gross’s loss.


Here is the breakdown of votes in the 2011 election in the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson:

Mayor:  Brendan Coyne  629
             Joseph Gross (incumbent)  366

Trustee  Andrew Argenio  487 
              Mark Edsall (incumbent)   497
              Jan Smith  486
              Douglas Vatter (incumbent)  486

 

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