Dems Take Both Bloomingdale Council Seats

Two Democrats have taken both open seats on the Bloomingdale Council in Tuesday's election.

Rich Dellaripa and Mike Sondermeyer will be sworn in on Jan. 1. Republican Incumbent Jo-Ann Pituch, who received 1,083 votes, will be unseated and Republican Michele Siek, who received 1,109 votes, was also not elected. Dellaripa received 1,888 votes and Sondermeyer received 2,003 votes.

Both Siek and Pituch were not available for comment Tuesday night.

Dellaripa is currently a Bloomingdale Board of Education member and will be forced to vacate his seat on the board before being sworn in to the council on Jan. 1. But he said he is excited to serve the Borough of Bloomingdale in a new capacity.

"Obviously I'm very excited, I'm very thankful for the support I got from the voters of Bloomingdale," he said. "We need to put Bloomingdale on a firm financial basis and we need to do what we can to stablize taxes, make it affordable for people to live here again and make it just a great little town to live in."

Sondermeyer is a newcomer to the council, but has made an effort to stay informed about borough issues. One key issue that will be important to him as he takes office is the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program proposal for the under-construction AvalonBay luxury apartment complex that was rejected by the Republican council majority last month. Sondermeyer said he wants to take a closer look at the proposal and possibly raise the issue again after hearing the argument of the majority members who voted against the initiative.

"I want to see what their side was and why they turned it down," he said.

Sondermeyer said he looks forward to working with his Republican counterparts on the council and to move Bloomingdale forward.

"Somebody once said, 'Without change, there would be no breakthroughs and without breakthroughs, there would be no future,'" he said. "It's time for a positive change here in Bloomingdale. [Dellaripa] and I are the two guys that are going to bring that."

Read more tri-boro election results here.