Starbuck, Woods win seats; third seat undecided
Kathleen Foley will be the next mayor of Cold Spring, according to unofficial results posted on Tuesday (Nov. 2) by the Putnam County Board of Elections.
Foley defeated former Putnam County Legislator Vinny Tamagna with 66 percent of the vote to win a 2-year term. She will be sworn in Dec. 6 to succeed Dave Merandy, who is in his third term but dropped out of the race over the summer.
Turnout was 62 percent among the 1,549 registered voters.
Kathleen Foley 584 (66%)
Vinny Tamagna 294 (33%)Unofficial tally as of Nov. 2; does not include absentee ballots
Foley, who was elected last year to a seat on the Village Board, will appoint her successor to finish her 2-year trustee term.
Late in the race, Merandy endorsed Tamagna, who is the county transportation manager, as his successor, an unexpected move that the mayor said was due in part to the fact he felt betrayed by Foley, who gathered signatures to get him on the ballot but said she decided he could not win and entered the race herself.
Merandy dropped out soon after nominating petitions were filed, as did Marie Early, who had planned to run for her fourth, 2-year term, and Matt Francisco, the Planning Board chair who was to compete for the seat held by Trustee Fran Murphy, who did not run for a fourth term.
One of those two seats will be filled by Eliza Starbuck, a former Chamber of Commerce president who owns Flowercup Wine. Among three candidates, she received 586 votes, or 47 percent of the vote.
Cathryn Fadde, who served on the board from 2014 to 2016 and owns Cathryn’s Tuscan Grill, and Jeff Phillips, a construction manager, ran on the Better Together banner with Tamagna. Fadde received 353 votes (28 percent) and Phillips had 300 (24 percent) but the margin is small enough that the winner of the second seat was not immediately known. The BOE says it distributed 109 absentee ballots, which must be postmarked before or on Election Day and reach the BOE by Nov. 9.
Eliza Starbuck 586 (47%)
Cathryn Fadde 353 (28%)
Jeff Phillips 300 (24%)Unofficial tally as of Nov. 2; does not include absentee ballots
In a second trustee race, Tweeps Phillips Woods won 66 percent of the vote against Yaslyn Daniels and will complete the second and final year of the term of Heidi Bender, who resigned in April. Woods had been appointed by Merandy to fill the seat until the election. It will be on the ballot again in 2022.
Tweeps Phillips Woods 549 (66%)
Yaslyn Daniels 284 (34%)Unofficial tally as of Nov. 2; does not include absentee ballots
Starbuck and Woods ran with Foley under the Forge Ahead banner. According to state election records, as of Oct. 22, they had raised $21,321 and spent $16,826 on their joint campaign.
Tamagna told state officials he would not raise or spend more than $1,000 and so was exempt from filing. Daniels, Fadde and Phillips also each filed exemptions.
In the final village race on the ballot, Justice Thomas Costello, who ran unopposed, was reelected.
Never cuss in front of women — congratulations ladies!
“Never cuss in front of women” is an egregious, sexist statement, worse than the point trying to be made. Now let’s see, Foley=$16,826 versus Tamagna = less than $1,000. That is more obscene than cussing in front of a woman, dammit!
Thanks! Congratulations to the new Cold Spring village board members!
Yay!
Love the election results.
Congratulations to the Foley campaign, and a special thank you to outgoing Mayor Merandy for his recent gutter obloquy in such poor form that all but sealed a victory for the opposition. Goodbye and riddance to him and his administration. We may now look forward to a government that people actually admire and support.
Ditto Derek! High hopes for creative and inclusive leadership responsive to and respectful of others! A good new day!
As the Village of Cold Spring election season ends, the campaign signs come down and we transition from one administration to the next, I wanted to take the time to simply say thank you. Being an elected official in any community is not easy and, in a small village, the role has its own unique challenges. It’s important to step back and recognize the hard work people do, no matter our political opinions.
Thank you, Fran Murphy! I only had the pleasure of meeting you firsthand for a long conversation recently, but I came away impressed. Your no-nonsense, thorough thought process is impressive. You gave a lot to the village and your reputation is well-earned.
Thank you, Marie Early! Details, details, details. A person after my own heart. If technology suddenly disappeared, we could count on Marie to sit down with a legal pad and pencil, recreating the village code and budget in no time. Your institutional knowledge of the village is important and I enjoy hearing you share your experience and insight.
Thank you, Dave Merandy! OK, I’m going to just get it out there. You can, at times, be a handful and I’m sure you’d be the first to admit it. But there aren’t many of us who have dedicated that much time and energy over so many years to our greater good.
We worked on a lot of projects together in many different venues which many aren’t aware of. Our community has a great turf athletic field due to many people, but back in 2006 it all got started with the first Haldane Building & Grounds Committee. You were there to help cut through the politics and personalities, which allowed later groups to succeed. You screamed (literally) that it was unacceptable for Haldane to have leaky roofs and a blacktop area mimicking the Sahara desert when funds were available to fix them. It got done.
Many don’t know it was your idea to start a Board of Education Haldane Fine Arts Committee to give our talented student artists the recognition and accolades they deserve. The concept now is a given; it wasn’t always. I hope you get a break and spend some quality time with your family. It is beyond well-deserved.
As we transition forward, patience and practicality will be needed for the greater good. I thank our departing public servants and wish nothing but the best to our incoming team. The village has a lot of heart; that’s always a great place to start.