Moving Owego Forward Party earns seats; Ward 3 too close to call

Mike Baratta, with the Moving Owego Forward Party, defeated Steve May, incumbent running under the Taxpayers First Party, with 264 votes for Baratta and 255 for May; the youngest to run, Tim Taft, earned 52 votes in Tuesday’s mayoral election in the village of Owego. There were 7 write-in votes.

In Ward 1, Ed Morton, incumbent with the Taxpayers First Party, maintained his trustee seat with 286 votes. Theresa Gosart, with the Moving Owego Forward Party, had 278 votes.

In Ward 2, Earl Hartman, incumbent with the Taxpayers First Party, was defeated in the election by Charles Plater, who had 295 votes; Hartman had 268 votes.

In Ward 3, Fran VanHousen, with the Moving Owego Forward Party and Mike Phelps, incumbent  with the Taxpayers First Party were tied, with 286 votes each.

For Clerk Treasurer, Rod Marchewka, incumbent with the Moving Owego Forward Party had 279 votes and will retain his seat. There were 202 write-in votes.

For the position of Village Justice, Dave Boland was uncontested and had 339 votes; there were 21 write-in votes.

According to Carolyn Wright, election inspector, the Clerk Treasurer will have to work through the steps given by election law to resolve the tie in Ward 3. We called the Clerk Treasurer’s office on Wednesday afternoon, but were unable to get an answer thus far – although a resolve is anticipated.