VILLAGE OF MANLIUS – Rob Oley and Hank Chapman were the two top vote getters in last week’s four-way race for two trustee positions in the village of Manlius.
Oley, who ran on the For A Better Manlius party line, garnered 338 votes while Chapman, running on the Citizens party line, took 319 votes. Anny Henry, running on the Democrat and Manlius Matters line, and incumbent Scott McGrew on the Citizens line had 254 and 201 votes respectively.
Oley, a lifelong resident of the village, is a newcomer to politics but a frequent commenter on village affairs on social media sites. He listed the village’s vacant storefronts, “rundown” facilities, over extended EMS workforce and the need for more flood mitigation in the West Branch of Limestone Creek as issues he wants to address as trustee.
Chapman has served five years as a village of Manlius trustee and has also been a town of Manlius councilor and supervisor. He and Mayor Paul Whorral have formed a Main Street Revitalization Committee that in the past three years helped bring $1.8 million in grants to the village to help revitalize the Seneca and Fayette Street corridors.
McGrew first joined the board of trustees in 2007 and was appointed deputy mayor in 2017.
Turnout in the Manlius village election far outpaced the turnout in other village races around Central New York. Most villages in New York hold elections in either March or June, although some have moved their election day to match the general election in November.