Gearity Ready To Go To Work As New Ossining Mayor

Trustee Victoria Gearity defeated four-term incumbent Mayor Bill Hanauer 2,705 votes to 1,494 votes, 64 percent to 36 percent with 100 percent of the vote counted, according to unofficial results from the Westchester County Board of Elections.

Gearity defeated Hanauer in the Democratic primary in September forcing Hanauer to run on the Working Families Party line. Gearity was completing her first term on the Ossining Village Board.

"It's very exciting," Gearity said. "This is the beginning of a new level of engagement in the community. I look forward to having all the people who were a part of my campaign be a part of the success in Ossining."

The mayor-elect ran on a mantra of change. She wants to make Ossining residents more involved in their village government. 

"I want to solicit and hear ideas from people," Gearity said. "We need everyone's participation. Ossining is stronger the more people that participate."

Gearity also thinks she can work with the village board even though Trustees Manuel Quezada, Bob Daraio and John Codman endorsed Hanauer. Gearity said she had already spoken to Codman and would reach out to Quezada and Daraio.

"We all have the same underlying goal," Gearity said. "We want to serve Ossining well."

Despite the challenging campaign, Gearity said Wednesday night meetings have gone smoothly and she hoped that would continue.

"We're all elected public servants," Gearity said. "Let's do things in a more collaborative way."

Gearity said she was grateful to the contributions Hanauer made during his time in office. 

"We will work together for a smooth transition," Gearity, noting Hanauer had reached out to her, said. "I want to build on the successes that he has been a part of."

One of Gearity's first initiatives will be to explore having public comment at village board meetings televised. 

"It's on the list of things I'm going to talk about with my colleagues," Gearity said.

Codman and Omar Herrera were elected to the village board, running unopposed. 

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