Lysander Town Clerk Lisa Dell has received the Republican nomination to run for Onondaga County Clerk.

At the Onondaga County Republican Committee nominating meeting Thursday, Sept. 24, Dell was the only candidate on the ballot. Dell also received the Conservative endorsement. She hopes to replace Republican Sandra Schepp of Manlius, who resigned Monday, Sept. 21, after being appointed as Onondaga County Commissioner of Jurors.

“My passion to serve the public runs deep,” Dell said of her desire to run for county clerk. “I have devoted my entire adult life to serving our community.”

Dell, a former Baldwinsville police officer, has served as Lysander town clerk since the fall of 2009. She said that experience makes her an ideal candidate for county clerk.

“I was able to modernize the office, make it more customer-friendly and efficient and extended services that generated extra revenue while reducing costs,” Dell said. “I also gained firsthand knowledge of how vital the county clerk’s office is to our community and I am confident that I can take my experiences to the county and help improve this office and better prepare it for the information age.”

At this point, Dell wasn’t sure what would become of the town clerk’s position. She said the Lysander Republican Committee might advertise for a replacement to run in November, but in the absence of a candidate, if she’s elected to the county seat, Dell said the Lysander Town Board would likely appoint someone to replace her.

“If I am fortunate to be elected to the office of county clerk on Nov. 3, my term would not begin until January 1, 2016,” Dell said. “I would presume that the Lysander Town Board at their organizational meeting in January of 2016 would then appoint a town clerk until a special election would be held in November of 2016 to fill the remainder of my term that currently expires on Dec. 31, 2017.”

Dell’s opponent in the race will be Kerin Rigney, a Democrat who joined the DeWitt Town Board in January of 2014.

“I have found my work on the DeWitt Town Board to be very fulfilling,” said Rigney, who believes the county clerk should be a nonpartisan position. “I really wanted to have a positive impact on a greater scale, so when this opportunity came along, I decided to run.”

Rigney, too, said she hoped to “modernize” the county clerk’s office.

“With any bureaucracy, they’re very slow to change,” she said. “I’d like to seek input from the users on their experience of using the services and seek funding for all of the technological upgrades. I’ll also really try to leave no stone unturned and explore best practices to make sure they have the best user experience.”

Rigney said she is “very passionate about doing the best thing for the people.”

“As a public official, I put the emphasis on listening to the people,” she said. “I believe in grassroots efforts.”

Schepp’s term wasn’t set to expire until 2016, but this election would start a new four-year term, to expire in 2019.

A Democrat has never won a county office, save for judgeships, in Onondaga County. Gary Morris won 48 percent of the vote when he ran against Schepp for county clerk in 2012, a presidential election year, when a record number of voters turned out. According to the Onondaga County Board of Elections, there are 99,008 registered Democrats in Onondaga County (35,815 in the city of Syracuse alone) compared to 81,062 registered Republicans (10,165 in the city).