ONEIDA, N.Y. -- The race for Oneida mayor was neck and neck between Democratic former mayor Leo Matzke and Republican councilman Brahim Zogby.
Matzke was leading the polls on election night, but only by 10 votes. Before a winner could be declared, 122 absentee ballots and 11 affidavits had to be counted. By Tuesday morning, the results were in.
Matzke had picked up an additional 64 votes, while Zogby gained 52, giving Matzke a 22-vote advantage.
"I am overwhelmed with gratitude to all the people who supported the efforts," said Matzke. "It's been a long ordeal and quite frankly, going into the home stretch, I wasn't sure. But the community support was outstanding. They carried us through and I'm very grateful."
Matzke says there's no time to waste and he plans on getting to work even before he's officially sworn in.
"Already I'm going to starting to look at the new budget, because I inherit this budget, and I know financially, it is a major concern," said Matzke.
He says he'll also be meeting with people to begin plans for economic development in downtown, creating five- and 10-year plans for the flats, and figuring out ways to increase revenue.
"Those are my major objectives, and for all those four, I'd like to have a plan in place by the time I take office in January," said Matzke.
Zogby has decided to decline comment until the official results come in next week.
Incumbent Max Smith was also in the running for mayor this year. However, he only gained 12 extra votes from the absentee ballots, leaving him in third place.