VILLAGE OF RUSHVILLE, N.Y. -- At noon Tuesday, some of the Village of Rushville's 700 residents began lining up to cast their ballot to decide the fate of the 150-year-old settlement. The big question: should the Village of Rushville and its government be dissolved?
Signs from both camps littered the streets, with impassioned residents even petitioning outside the polling place. Some residents say the issue seems to have altered the community.
"I went to school for a few months and everyone were neighbors,” said Kristopher Sennett, a Rushville resident. “When I came back, it seemed like everyone is against each other. It was just amazing to see the difference between the four months. How much everything has changed. I just want everything to really stop."
But to some, it has always been divided to an extent, with the village itself straddling the border between Yates and Ontario Counties. For Mayor John Sawers, that border might complicate things further if the village were dissolved.
"We have on this side, Ontario County, which is a fairly rich county, and on this side, Yates County, which is a fairly poor county,” said Sawers. “So how we're going to tie that all together, it's going to be tough on that side."