Election 2018

McGilloway, Rohl win big in Sea Clif

Trustee seats go to Civic Progress

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After more than 1,200 ballots were counted, officials announced on Tuesday night that Kevin McGilloway and Henriette Rohl had won the two open seats on the Village of Sea Cliff board of trustees. Voter turnout was up from the 2017 election, with roughly 200 more ballots cast this year.

McGilloway, the sole incumbent on the ballot, received more than 750 votes. Rohl, his fellow Civic Progress nominee, had about 600 votes to snag the second seat.

Sea Cliff Open Government candidates Liz Baron and Terryl Donovan received more than 450 votes each. Charles Parisi, who ran unopposed for village justice, had 900 votes. He will serve a four-year term.

“I applaud the other two candidates,” McGilloway said of Baron and Donovan, just minutes after the election results were announced. “It was a healthy, good campaign, and I have spoken to both of them and said we need them to continue to work with us.”

Rohl, a member of the Environmental Conservation Commission and the Traffic and Safety Committee, said she was excited to play a more central role in the village as a trustee. “I think the most important thing is to get to know everybody on that board, and to develop a relationship with everyone so we can work collaboratively together,” she said. “I really appreciate all the support over these last couple of months. It’s been amazing.”

During the village’s Meet the Candidates night on March 13, McGilloway said he was interested in working with Baron on his Tech Task Force Committee. Baron has 20 years of experience in the information technology industry. “I definitely have a taste for the politics in this village, and look forward to contributing more,” Baron said.

Both Open Government candidates said they were proud of the campaign they ran in the weeks leading up to the election. “It was clean, it was honest, it was transparent, and that is something that, even if the numbers don’t show it, was a fantastic experience for our village,” Baron said. Voter “participation, the engagement and the discussion were critical to [educate] how we go forward.”

Mayor Edward Lieberman, who ran last year on the Civic Progress ticket, said he was confident in voters’ choices. “Kevin brings a very steady hand and mind to the board,” he said. “He’s displayed a fantastic awareness of financial and budgetary concerns, and has a reasoned approach to any idea that is broached by the trustees or the citizenry.”

As for Rohl, Lieberman said, “Henriette brings a background of volunteerism in the village, [and] has talents that go beyond her volunteer work with her professional background in finance, which is very important to our village’s life.”

The mayor commended Open Government for running a dignified campaign, and said he had reached out to both Donovan and Baron “with regard to continuing their goals for a better Sea Cliff.”

Speaking of goals, McGilloway had a couple in mind. “We have to put a budget together within the next two weeks, and it’s going to be tight to keep it flat,” he said. “My goal for the next two years is to bring a unified Sea Cliff back together. We learned both good and bad from the campaign, so hopefully we can take the good and fix the bad for everybody.”

McGilloway spoke to a member of the opposition party, but declined to say which one, before the results were announced. The two found common ground, he noted. “In the end, we all love Sea Cliff,” he said. “The vote looks like it went along party lines, so the goal is to get everybody focused on Sea Cliff, and if so, we win.”