The Village of Boyle’s mayor and his deputy were voted off council last Monday, in a seismic political shift that reflects a desire for change.
The Oct. 18 elections saw incumbents Sam Assaf, Don Radmanovich and Mike Antal joined by newcomers David Bencharsky and Roger Hall for the next three years, while current mayor Bob Clark and deputy Jim Giancola were voted out.
The new council will select a new mayor from amongst its ranks on Oct. 27, when the swearing-in and selection process will take place at the village office.
“We made it, damn right,” Assaf said on election night. “I feel very nice and I thank the Boyle residents for voting for us.
“I hope they trust us for the next three years, and we’ll do our best to help them and make them happy.”
His newly elected colleague, Roger Hall, was also pleased with the election results after his victory, saying that the chief concerns of residents were the rising cost of both trash collection and water bills.
“It was a concern when I campaigned and I’ll take it back to the council,” said Hall.
Meanwhile, fellow newcomer David Bencharsky said this was Boyle’s largest voter turnout ever. “I appreciate all the support I got,” he said.
But despite his victory on a platform of greater political transparency and accountability, Bencharsky said he wouldn’t immediately advocate any policy changes until he had a chance to review existing issues affecting the people of Boyle, and that he needed time to study all the council procedures.
Radmanovich, after his reelection, focused on the new council working together as a team to improve the lot of people in Boyle.
“It feels like we’ve got three more years of work ahead of us, and it was nice to see a large voter turnout for a change,” he said.
Antal was not available for comment.
