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OSSINING, N.Y. In the race between four candidates for two seats on the village board, Republican Robert Fritsche declared victory, but his opponents, Robert Daraio and Manuel Quezada, did not concede defeat.
With 16 out of 17 districts, or 94 percent of votes reported, Fritsche received 1,615 out of 5,506 votes, or 29 percent, while Daraio received 1,398, or 25 percent of votes, and Quezada received 1,350, or 25 percent of votes, according to unofficial results from the Westchester Board of Elections. Republican Robert Terilli received 1,143, or 21 percent of votes.
"It feels good that people want a change in the village," said Fritsche, who awaited election results in the kitchen of town supervisor candidate Peter Tripodi IV's house, along with other Republican candidates. "I'm happy with the results. I would've been happier if my running mate had gotten in with me, but hopefully we can all work together and have a successful future."
Daraio, who awaited results at the Boathouse restaurant, along with other Democratic candidates, said he doesn't know what the results will be yet, especially since there appeared to be discrepancies between the county Board of Elections' numbers and the numbers tabulated by local party officials.
"If I did win, then hurray! Now we've got a lot of work to do," Daraio said. "And if I didn't win, I can avoid two years of abuse."
Quezada said he was "a little nervous" awaiting the official results of the election.
"I'm very excited and I'm hoping that everything works out," he said. "I'm waiting for the 100 percent to see what happens."
Terilli said there wasn't much he could do about losing, and he wished the winners a lot of luck.
"Those guys are good guys and I'd work with them, support them if they need my help," he said. "(Running for election) was tiring, but I probably would do it again."
Helping the government to save money and bring more local businesses into the village were important issues for village trustees.
Daraion said he wants to reduce the cost of local government without cutting services and with a minimal loss of jobs, while Quezada said he would like to keep working on the consolidation of various municipal departments.
Fritsche said he would like to give tax incentives to attract more businesses to the village and Terilli suggested reaching out to biomedical and pharmaceutical companies or financial firms to see if they might be interested in setting up in Ossining.
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