Michael LaMontagne seeks first term as trustee, Devendorf seeks re-election
By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
After two years in office, Liverpool village Trustee Bradley Young has declined to seek re-election. Instead, planning board member Michael LaMontagne was nominated at the Liverpool Republican caucus on May 1 to run for the open seat in the June 19 village election.
LaMontagne works as a principal architect for C&S Companies in Syracuse. Young’s experience includes administrative work in the regional judicial system.
According to Village GOP Chair Joe Ostuni, Jr., the caucus of 31 registered Republicans voted unanimously to back first-term Trustee Matt Devendorf and new candidate LaMontagne. Devendorf works as director of sales and marketing at Young & Franklin/Tactair.
When the GOP caucus convened on the first day of the month, Young attended but was not nominated. After the April 16 village board meeting, Young expressed reluctance to run again.
Both LaMontagne and Devendorf are expected to run unopposed in the June 19 election. Democrats have failed to field any candidate for village office since 2001, and have not conducted a caucus since that year. In the 2001 election, Republican Marlene Ward defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor Jon Zappola to become the first female mayor in village history.
If elected, LaMontagne and Devendorf will join three fellow Republicans — trustees Christina Fadden Fitch and Jason Recor and Mayor Gary White — to complete the village board.
Republicans have dominated village government for decades and have enjoyed largely unchallenged control for the past 18 years.
LaMontagne serves on the C&S Education, Healthcare and Public Facilities group with a focus on higher education and aviation. He manages projects, brainstorms designs and administers construction projects for C&S, which handles a wide variety of infrastructure projects from coast-to-coast.
The new candidate is also a member of the board of directors of FOCUS Syracuse, an organization that aims to tap into “citizen creativity to bring about change in Central New York by enabling citizens, organizations and government to work together to enhance the quality of our lives and our economic future.”
