Government & Politics

New Leaders Take Over Rivertown Village Governments

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Retiring mayor Martin Rutyna swears in successor Marjorie Hsu as Mayor of Sleepy Hollow

December 2, 2025

By Barrett Seaman–

Local elections in all five of the rivertowns produced new mayors in four of the five villages covered by The Hudson Independent. Only one of the mayors sworn in at the beginning of December* is an incumbent: Democrat Karen Brown of Tarrytown, re-elected without opposition in November to a third term.

Sleepy Hollow

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^The parade of new elected officials began at noon in Sleepy Hollow, where the race between the Unite Sleepy Hollow (USH) party, led by trustee Jim Husselbee, and the Transparent Accountable Government (TAG) party represented by former village Planning Board chair Marjorie Hsu, had the most vigorous and substantive contest of the five.

In the end, the team of TAG candidates—all Democrats backed by a well-organized local party apparatus—swept to a decisive three-to-one victory. Along with Hsu, a tech executive and one of the leaders of Westchester County’s Asian-American community, Sleepy Hollow voters chose over their opponents all three of her Democratic running mates, Jared Rodriguez, an incumbent, and newcomers Cory Krall and Jairo Triguero.

A portion of the Hsu supporters at her swearing-in

Hsu succeeds TAG founder Martin Rutyna, who is retiring after one term for personal health reasons. Rutyna presided over the ceremony, swearing in his successor before an enthusiastic crowd of her supporters that filled the trustee meeting room beyond its capacity.

Irvington

The only other contested race was in Irvington, where the deputy mayor, Democrat and corporate attorney Arlene Burgos, defeated independent candidate Robert Grados 55% to 45%. With her in victory were slate mates Lawrence Ogrodnek and David Zwiebel.

Burgos was sworn in by Village Attorney Desmond Lyons, who himself won a seat in November on the state Supreme Court. Like Hsu, Burgos had an enthusiastic, room-filling cheering section, albeit in the more confined space of Irvington’s trustee meeting room in the basement of Village Hall.

A portion of the audience at Irvington’s ceremony ([hoto by Rick Pezzullo)

Dobbs Ferry

There was no surprise that Christy Knell won all 1,789 of the votes cast for mayor of Dobbs Ferry. A former deputy mayor and co-founder of the highly successful workspace Hudco, she has garnered a reputation as a “doer”—and extended that definition to the rest of the village board with whom she will work. She succeeds retiring mayor Vincent Rossillo and will have likely allies in incumbents Matt Rosenberg, Michael Patino and Donna Assumma.

Ardsley

Steve Edelstein, deputy mayor of Ardsley, was a natural successor to the retiring Nancy Kaboolian—and no one disagreed enough with that to run against him. Also winning trustee seats were Sheila Narayanan and Holly Halmo.

Hastings-on-Hudson

*While state election law designates December 1^st as the day officials are sworn in for two-year terms, Hastings-on-Hudson, because it holds its regular meetings on Tuesdays, chose to conduct its swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, December 2^nd. Thomas Drake, having bested board colleague Morgan Fleizig in a primary, will preside over a board that includes Douglass Alligood and new trustee Malaika Sundberg, who were also elected in November.

Tarrytown

Democratic dominance continues with Mayor Brown and her colleagues, all elected to new terms.