GOWANDA — For the first time in five years, the village will have a new mayor.
Who will serve as the next leader of the community will be decided during village elections on Tuesday, March 21. Voting will be held from noon to 9 p.m.
Samuel D. Castellano of the Forward party is running against David L. Smith, a member of the Gowanda on the Move party, for the mayor’s post. The position is being vacated by current mayor Heather McKeever, who did not seek reelection.
The village trustees race is also contested, with both Paul M. Zimmermann (Open Door) and Carol A. Sheibley (Allegiance) seeking re-election for their seats. Jack T. Broyles (Public Rights) is running to obtain one of those seats.
Castellano, a longtime Gowanda resident, is seeking the mayor’s position after a 48-year career in law enforcement. His resume includes time as town constable in Perrysburg; officer-in-charge of Gowanda from 1995 to 2002 and work for the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office from 1989 to 2008.
Castellano has also had leadership roles in Little League Baseball, Boys Scouts of America and has served as a volunteer firefighter and a member of Phoenix 262 Masonic Lodge in Gowanda.
Smith, who resides on North Chapel Street, will begin his 15th year this July as an administrator of the Gowanda Central School District. He has spent 25 years in educ ation, including 20 as a school administrator and five as a Spanish teacher.
He is also a member of the Gowanda Free Methodist Church and co-leader of its Alpha Ministries and its Teens at Tim Hortons Youth Group. He also volunteers in the prison ministry at Gowanda Correctional Facility.
ELSEWHERE IN the area, South Dayton voters will find Mayor Scott Kerr running for re-election to a two-year term on the Democratic and Republican lines. There are contests there for two two-year trustee seats. The candidates are: incumbent Karen Strickland, a Democrat and former mayor; Democrat Melinda Frederickson; and Republicans Robert Astry and Stephen Foster.
In Cattaraugus, Mayor Wirt Smith, a former trustee who was appointed after the resignation of former mayor Daniel Mosier, is running unopposed in his re-election bid on the Democrat and Republican lines for a two-year term. Incumbent trustees Jason Crawford and Robert Botsford are unopposed for re-election to two-year terms. Also, Diane Wienk is unopposed on the Democratic and Republican lines for a one-year term of trustee.
Village elections are also taking place in Portville, Allegany and Ellicottville.
