Allen Runs Again
Booted Village of Sodus Mayor in Primary Against Madison


Kelley Allen sounds eager to run for Mayor of the Village of Sodus again.
“I didn’t get my job finished,” he says.  Allen was elected mayor in 2008, and served until April of this year, when the village’s Board of Trustees removed him from office (see adjoining story for more on Allen and the Board).  

Allen says that while mayor, he negotiated a contract with the Town of Sodus whereby the town would continue to buy water from the village for another year. At the time, the town was considering purchasing water at reduced rates from nearby Williamson, he says. By renegotiating the Village of Sodus’s contract with the town, he helped the village retain a source of much-needed funds.

“If the town doesn’t buy water from the village, then the village would go bankrupt,” he says.  Since registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Village of Sodus, the winner of the upcoming primary could take the mayor’s office. As mayor, Allen says he would like to work with the village and the Town of Sodus to consolidate some services, particularly street maintenance and sewer and water services. By doing so, the village could save money, and develop greater clout with the federal and state agencies that fund municipal projects, he says.

“If you were to take a little village department and a little bit larger town department and combine them together, they would have way more pull with the USDA, (US Department of Agriculture) which funds water projects,” he says.  

Despite having left the mayor’s office under a cloud, Allen says he believes voters could return him to it in January. “The majority of them liked me before, and they’ll vote for me again,” he says. Allen, who works for a construction equipment rental company, is the married father of four children, two of them grown.

David Madison
 David Madison says he is running for the Republican slot on the ballot for Village of Sodus Mayor in order to “put myself out of a job.”
“I’d like to consolidate the village into the town,” he says.

Madison says he’s researched the issues surrounding village and town consolidation. If elected mayor, he’d focus upon combining the village’s highway and water departments with those of the Town of Sodus.
“The village has a water plant, the town does not, (and) the town buys water from us,” he says. “It’s a duplication of services, and I would like to see the duplication of services ended.”

Madison also alleges that his opponent, Kelley Allen, does not live in the Village of Sodus, and thereby is not eligible to be its mayor. He says that during numerous walks through the village, he has not found the Main Street apartment that Allen lists as a village residence to be occupied.
“The lights are never on,” Madison explained.

Madison brings governmental experience to the race for the mayor’s slot, having served on the Town of Williamson Town Board from 1996 through 2000. He says he ran for the office on the Conservative ticket, and after winning the race tried to “bring a level head” to the Republican board.
“Taxes were going up, (and) my feeling is that we weren’t doing the job that we were put there to do by the taxpayers,” Madison says.  

Madison is also a veteran of the US Army, and a 17-year member of the American Legion, he says. At the time he sat on the Town Board, he was 1st Vice Commander of Williamson’s American Legion Post #394.  
“I’m pretty active in the American Legion,” he says.

Madison says his work for the post and his family obligations-he had two young children at home- took up too much of his time back then, prompting him to avoid seeking re-election to the Town Board. He was subsequently elected Post Commander, went on to hold other positions at Post #394, and now commands it again. With his children out of the house, he says he is able to assume the duties of Mayor of the Village of Sodus.

Madison owns and operates Mobile Repair Service, a farm machinery repair company, and is the father of two grown children, he says.