The Erie County Board of Elections Bi-Partisan Team met this afternoon, March 25th, to recount the physical ballots from last week’s Village of Lancaster Trustee special election which resulted in a tie with 248 votes for David Santoro and William C. Schroeder.
Both candidates were in attendance during the recanvass. Following the recount of ballots, it was confirmed by the Erie County Board of Elections that the results remained the same at 248 votes each. The write-in votes were also reviewed with 32 votes counted for Joseph Lista.
As a result of the tie between Mr. Santoro and Mr. Schroeder, there will be a runoff election on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, as prescribed by Village Election Law.
This election will take place at the Lancaster Municipal Building, 5423 Broadway, during the hours from 12:00 noon until 9:00 p.m. The ballot for this runoff election will only include the names of David Santoro and William C. Schroeder. There will be no write in votes allowed as the runoff election is only between the 2 candidates who were tied in votes.
Update:
The only campaign contact that I experienced is a letter from former Mayor Schroeder, reminding residents of the date and hours of the election, the location of the one operative polling place, and some rather vague reference to the issues which he identified in the campaign. IMHO, certainly not a robust commentary which may change minds.
From the Santoro campaign: CRICKETS!!!
Last edited by mark blazejewski; April 5th, 2024 at 12:47 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
Who are the people of the Lancaster Town and Village? What are their concerns and what is their political slant?
It appears the villagers are asleep at the wheel of the government vehicle driving the future of VOL. In my mind politicians who don't keep their constituents informed on all things that are important to them are not doing their duty. It seems as though Mr. Santoro and Mr. Schroeder both have not much to offer to those who might vote for them.
Are those two banking on a low turn out to gain a seat on the board?
Neither is taking their case to the general public with any concrete statements about their intentions. Why is that? Are there NO issues that need to be addressed in public? Is Mr. Schroeder running to join in the present direction of this board? Is Mr. Schroeder running to bring a specific change in some policy? What is Mr. Santoro's reason for campaigning for a seat? Is he firmly in the Ruda/Sweeney camp? Is Bill Schroeder in the clutches of Mr. Sweeney?
Neither candidate has made any statement that might bring a more interested public into the election equation. In fact, it looks like the opposite is taking place. A quiet election turn out give no one a mandate to do anything without complete transparency and public involvement. That process of real public input has been taking a back seat to the Ruda/Sweeney method of government. It led to favorites, insiders and donators profiting by stepping in front of the priority list of the daily operation of the VOL and all attention paid to anything connected to the Sweeney Deal.
An approach like the one being employed by the sitting board in the VOL will ultimately bring new contestants throwing their own hats in the ring when the next real election occurs.
A low turn means the current group of old time cronies that play in the same VOL sand box over and over again are not aware of the the discontent and rate at which their names are growing in familiarity for not doing the right thing and continuing to make bad deals behind closed doors.
Perhaps they do not offer much, because as truly independent thinking candidates, they really can't offer much; the unmistakable trademark of those controlled by a behind-the-scenes cabal?Originally Posted by GroundControl
QUESTION:
ANSWER:
QUESTION:
ANSWERS:
Last edited by mark blazejewski; April 5th, 2024 at 07:00 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
There are two candidates making a run for the open trustee position in the Village of Lancaster, vacated by former board member Tyler Sojka in October 2023.
David Santoro, who was appointed in December by the board to stand in as a trustee, is looking to make it official come the March 19 special election. Santoro is a technical education teacher with 37 years of experience, spending 32 of those years here in Lancaster working at the middle and high schools. He and his wife have three adult children, who they raised here.
“As an educator in this community, I see what goes on, and you just want to do something to give back,” Santoro said. “If I can serve the village in another capacity beyond being a teacher, I’m going to give it a shot.”
Santoro, who has been placed in charge of building, lights and code in the village, says there’s a lot to process when weighing decisions. “I’ve got some background with it. I think that’s going to help,” said Santoro. “It’s a daunting task to try and get your head wrapped around all of the different things that are going on at the same time.” He added that a big part of the job is coordinating with village personnel and departments in order to generate solutions.
On business in the village, Santoro said things have improved greatly in the downtown corridor, with the partial completion of the Lancaster Village Center project creating an upswing in the local economy.
“I’ve been here 30-something years now, living in the village, and seeing the progress is something that made me want to get more involved,” Santoro said. “I think it’s important to have retail. I walk downtown now and down Broadway to see people there enjoying the space: spending money, supporting the community, supporting the businesses that pay taxes in the community.”
He added that it would be nice to find ways for the village to support or promote other types of businesses outside of the downtown area, such as taxable home-based operations doing business online.
As a board member, Santoro said he likes understanding the ins and outs of any given issue, even if it takes a little extra effort. “I like to thoroughly do my homework,” he said.
"I'm going to give it a shot" sounds like he is an aspiring actor, who is seeking the job without the beneficial portfolio of a productive incumbent. Surely the vision of a truly fruitful officeholder, must necessarily contain more in the way of original thoughts and "to-dos", than those words of soporific banality.
MY OPINION:
I am sure he enjoys his chair in the big room, behind those closed doors. He likes his work, even though he doesn't fully understand it, but he is willing to learn, perhaps with the help of the available tutors. Is that what he said?
Test on Friday, eh?
Last edited by mark blazejewski; April 5th, 2024 at 09:14 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
The last post was a little reminder for the VOL voters of what Mr. Santoro is all about and this one is about his opponent.
[ "Bill Schroeder who is no stranger to local politics, having served in the past as a trustee for 12 years and the mayor for four years. He is a former mechanic and electrician who has worked for the village in the past and lives in Lancaster with his wife, Dawn. They own AdWorks on Central Avenue.
“I’d like to see what they [the board] have been doing over the last three years,” said Schroeder, quickly adding that he intends to run for mayor, regardless of the results for the partial term as trustee. “It’s really hard to have a clue what the village board is doing. They seem to go into a lot of executive sessions, and that doesn’t seem like transparent government to me. Sometimes, there’s reasons for it, but the rules are pretty strict when it comes to executive sessions. I do know when I was mayor, we kept them [executive sessions] to a minimum.”
Schroeder, continuing his critique, said that positions like the assistant superintendent at the department of public works and a code enforcement officer remain unfilled. He also said it’s hard to understand why, because regardless of the push online and at meetings by village residents, the village has yet to install livestreaming equipment. “I don’t know what the holdup is. Lancaster is kind of an aging community, and there’s a lot of people that would like to know what is going on, and that would be an ideal setup for them,” Schroeder said. “I would have thought this would have been done a long time ago.”
Schroeder also took aim at parking, stating that he is a fan of the work by Tom Sweeney’s company, Glassco Management, on the Lancaster Village Center Project at West Main Street, but worries about the lingering issue of low public parking as the village’s downtown continues to grow.
Building on his support for the Lancaster Village Center Project, Schroeder said he is excited to see phase 2 get done. He hopes the Lancaster Industrial Development Agency sticks with its plan, despite recent hiccups in the project’s timeline. “Tom has put up some good buildings. He seems to have them all rented,” he said. “They should adjust for conditions. He had some hardships.”
Schroeder showed support for the village’s recent green initiatives and Climate Smart achievements with the state. Referencing the village’s conversion to LED lighting, something initiated during his time on the board, Schroeder said, “I haven’t seen any numbers on it, but I’d have to think our utilities bills went way down.”
All together, Schroeder says climate smart initiatives should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, and implemented when it makes sense for the taxpayer, stating, “Maybe some ideas will be great for the village; some may have no bearing on the village at all.”]
The special election for a one-year term to fill the vacant trustee position in the Village of Lancaster will be held from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at the Lancaster Municipal Building, 5423 Broadway.
Both candidates appear to give Mr. Tom Sweeney plenty of support and backing to continue collecting tax benefits to keep a frail company afloat. That makes sense since Mr. Schroeder helped grease the skids for favorite son Tom Sweeney and Mr Santoro is the hand picked clone of the Ruda team.
But, never the less, here are their own words for the voters Both of the last two posts by me were taken directly from the Feb 15th 2024 issue of the Lancaster Bee .
Last edited by GroundControl; April 5th, 2024 at 09:11 PM.
GC,
Many times we tend to vote for the lesser of two evils. This time VOL voters will probably cast their ballots for the lesser of two unknowns.
Santoro is an empty suit, IMHO. Schroeder at least identified some truly substantive issues, and has been skeptical of certain VOL Board decisions.
I will be voting for Schroeder in the hopes that, if elected, he will become more publicly assertive during his term. Regrettably, having announced that he is already a candidate for mayor next year, he may have opened himself up to gratuitous accusations that everything he says or does has a political motivation(s).
Just my two cents.
Last edited by mark blazejewski; April 6th, 2024 at 12:43 PM.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
Here we go again. William Schroeder running for another tax payer paid job. He did nothing but learn how to move dollars to projects he would see a benefit.Possibly His Company with his wife needs more cash flow, didn’t they have an issue when he was Mayor.
We need real people that are in it for the better of the community. Not just another tax paying job.
Well, Lanc,......
I am not sure Mr. Schroeder will win this time because he has continued to follow the worse advice he could possible get in a close election. If he does lose by a small amount of votes, he can look to his very inept campaign manager to blame.
As I understand it, that campaign manager was trying to round up votes at the VOL Dept of Public Works building and things didn't go so well. It may have actually cost Mr. Schroeder some possibly valuable votes.
The margin last time was nil. One vote could determine tonights outcome. But, I think there is little chance of that. However 30-40 votes difference is a very real possibility. 20 votes going a different way from last time that were originally counted on is a 40 vote swing. Votes are critical today for both candidates.
Again, if Mr. Schroeder loses a close one, blame his incompetant campaign manager
GC,
Sometime "Silence is Golden," but in this run-off, to rewrite the idiom, I fear that "Silence May be Deadly." I hope that Schroeder wins so that he can define himself in the next year, because he left an information void during both campaigns.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
A very simple but profound sentence Lanc.
No matter what the result, the March 19 and the run-off campaigns were closed-door politics at its worse. Neither candidate substantively discussed the issues, clearly defined themselves, or projected a vision for the future of the VOL.
To me, Santoro and Schroeder may be the political embodiments of Frankenstein's two creations. Both the original Frankenstein monster and its bride were constructs, beholden to a single creator, with both uttering the same guttural gibberish.
Indeed, we need a fresh face in 2025.
LIDA Member Rinow to Member Ruda: You were a sitting Trustee on the Board. Did you help support Mr. Sweeney getting a seat on the CDC Board?"
And the clock ticks down...................
What's going on GC?
Heard Schroeder unofficially received 12 more votes than Santoro a few hours ago (374-362)?
Lee, I believe Mr. Schroeder is going to be sitting in the "hottest" seat on the VOL board. I expect many questions coming from the floor at the next meeting and many thereafter regarding the board's action while he was a voting member and he will have to defend his voting record with the next real election cycle approaching.
As I stated before, from my research I've concluded Mr. Schroeder is in the pocket of Mr. Sweeney. I don't think there is much difference t all between Mr. Schroeder and the Mayor and her favorite developer
I imagine a recount will occur and who knows how that will turn out. Again the difference is minimal at best.
Good luck to who ever is ready to sit in the Hot Seat.
Last edited by GroundControl; April 10th, 2024 at 08:28 AM.
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