Gilroy is top vote-getter, followed by Sansbury, Osborne and Furcht; Bilodeau is only incumbent to win
Nov. 2. By Dave Vieser and Dave Yochum. In what is the biggest upset in recent Cornelius political history, all four challengers defeated all but one incumbent on the five-person Town Board. Only Commissioner Denis Bilodeau survived.
Mayor Woody Washam ran unopposed, and endorsed the incumbents.
Gilroy
Dave Gilroy led the way, with Todd Sansbury, Michael Osborne and Colin Furcht having a firm grip on second, third and fourth place.
Denis Bilodeau, the highest vote-getter two years ago, appeared to distance himself from the other incumbents.
The victors will take office at the first Town Board meeting in December, and a proposed moratorium on building may be their first order of business.
Sansbury
They ran on a “Contract with Cornelius” platform which criticized incumbents for not listening to citizen concerns about rapid development.
It struck a chord among voters.
Some of the projects which caused the most concern included the Junker Project, during which a last-minute change in the project size was not sent back to the Planning Board for further review; the Alexander Farm Project which encompassed almost 55 acres of pristine farmland; the OMB/Caroline projects; and the approval of a controversial cell phone tower near Jetton Road.
Bilodeau
Osborne
Furcht
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Wow! Our town has spoken.
Congratulations to the new commissioners (and welcome back to Gilroy). And congratulations to the citizens of Cornelius who came out to vote, declaring enough is enough. We sent the incumbent commissioners a message that this time they can’t choose to ignore.
Congratulations .. a new day for Cornelius .. and about time. The approval of so many new, huge building projects without thought of supportive infrastructure was not what our community wanted or needed.
Congrats to the winners. Considering only 4 people ran for five seats, we would have had ousted all the incumbents if someone else new had run. And one out of ten people who voted for an unopposed mayor voted against the incumbent. It was a strong showing that change was needed.
Congrats to all the winning commissioners and to all the voters who defeated those incumbents who decided not to hear the voters .Your contract with Cornelius is welcomed with anticipation by all voters. We can now make Cornelius the quality town it should be not overwrought with excessive multi family growth.
Change is welcome!
Sincerely,
Patricia Grisanti