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Dennis Brochey stands in front of a white board listing the election totals in each of the Town of Lewiston's 14 districts. (photo by Joshua Maloni)
Dennis Brochey stands in front of a white board listing the election totals in each of the Town of Lewiston's 14 districts. (photo by Joshua Maloni)

Updated: Brochey elected supervisor in Town of Lewiston

by jmaloni
Sat, Nov 9th 2013 06:55 am

Village of Lewiston trustee defeats Town of Lewiston councilman

Staff reports

Come January, Dennis Brochey will be supervisor in the Town of Lewiston.

Brochey, a Democrat and Village of Lewiston trustee, defeated Ernie Palmer, a Republican and Town of Lewiston councilman, by 418 votes in Tuesday's election. Brochey took 10 out of 14 districts, including all three in the village, en route to 1,965 votes. Palmer finished with 1,547 votes.

Less than 300 absentee ballots were cast, and are expected to fall 50-50 between the two candidates.

"I don't know where to start in thanking you all," Brochey told a crowd at Apple Granny moments after winning. "I gotta' thank you all! You're all a part of this. I promise I'm going to do the best to never let you down."

Brochey said he went door-to-door visiting upward of 2,500 homes. He attributed his win to the trust he said voters have in him.

"The people of Lewiston spoke what they wanted, and I'm not going to let them down," he said.

Brochey has served on the Village of Lewiston Board of Trustees for a little more than a year. More notably, the supervisor-elect owned and operated Dennis Brochey's Automotive on Center Street for more than two decades.

The voters, Brochey said, "understand that Lewiston needs a change.

"I feel bad; I think Lewiston suffered a black eye recently from everything that's happened to them. I'm here to make sure that it never happens again.

"I'm going to run it like a business - like I did my own business for 25 years."

Brochey said he plans to "get more community input; have ideas; and I'm going to start on them right away."

The appointment of a deputy supervisor and town finance director are expected to be among Brochey's first actions.

"I want to surround myself with people I trust and that I can work with," he said. "I don't know who those people are right now; I never talked to anybody yet. But I do want to make the right decision."

Moreover, Brochey vowed relations would improve between the town and the village. The two municipalities have clashed in recent years over the Lewiston Police Department budget, water bills and the establishment of a recreation center.

"There's going to be a great working relationship between the town and the village, but it's not going to just be limited to the village - it's going to be with Sanborn, Colonial Village," Brochey said. "I'm not just for the village; I'm for the whole community.

"I'm looking forward to making a difference in the whole community."

When asked where he thinks Lewiston should go in the wake of outgoing Supervisor Steve Reiter's failed bid to build a $9 million recreation center on the Lewiston-Porter School grounds, and a lack of progress at Joseph Davis State Park, Brochey said, "I'm not going to rule out anything for advancement in the Town of Lewiston."

That includes a smaller version of a recreation center and work at Joseph Davis State Park.

With regard to the latter, "What can we do to get the state to give us Joe Davis back?" Brochey said. "I don't have any problems giving money to Joe Davis if it's town property."

Brochey said he'd rather put money into the village or the Sanborn area than into state property.

In the other Town of Lewiston race, councilmen Mike Marra and Alfonso Bax were re-elected. Both ran unopposed, and will serve four more years.

Brochey's term is for two years.

In Porter, Mert Wiepert, Tom Baia, Joe Fleckenstein, Sally Hogan and Dave Truesdale were re-elected.

At the county level, incumbent legislator Bill Ross edged challenger Sean O'Laughlin, and incumbent Clyde Burmaster soundly defeated Christopher Ferrante.

All election results are unofficial at this time.

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