MAY 7– CITY CLERK EXPLAINS DIFFERENT TERMS OF OFFICE OF APPOINTED COUNCILMEMBERS AND CHALLENGERS IN UPCOMING NOVEMBER SPECIAL ELECTION | WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2026 By John F. Bailey May 7, 2026:

Jill Iannetta, City Clerk of White Plains explained today the length of the upcoming terms the newly appointed councilpersons and their challengers will serve should they win one of the seats.

Ms Iannetta described the terms as “staggered” based on the former incumbents terms the appointed new councilpersons are replacing.

Iannetta explained to WPCNR that Councilpersons Nick Wolff and Evelyn Santiago (elected to council this fall) would serve full four year terms, replacing John Martin and Justin Brasch on the Council (Mr. Brasch ran for Mayor in November is now the Mayor who is on the Common Council).

The City Clerk said the new Councilpersons appointed by Mayor Brasch Thomas Caruso and Virginia Simmons are serving different length terms.

Caruso, Ms. Iannetta said is appointed to replace Richard Payne who resigned from the Council after being elected to a new full term. Payne resigned from the Council in December.

Since Payne was elected for another four years but chose not to serve, Iannetta said Caruso would have a full four year term which would expire December 31st, 2029, should he retain the vacant Payne seat

Virginia Simmons, however, Ms. Iannetta pointed out is appointed to replace Jen Puja who was elected to the County Legislature to represent District 5 in the November 2025 election, with two more years remaining in the Puja term.

As a result Ms. Simmons’ appointed term expires December 31,2027.

Iannetta said that Simmons– should she win the Special Election would have to run with two other councilpersons terms of whom are up in 2027:

Jeremiah Frei-Pearson and Victoria Presser terms expire in 2027 creating a three-seats-in-contention council election in 2027.

WPCNR observes that the challenging candidates John Cambareri and Kathy Guglielmo and the appointed candidates would win either a 2 year term on the council if one of them should defeat appointee Simmons, but if one of the challengers defeats Mr. Caruso, the challenger would win a 4 year term on the council.

What I wonder about is whether the longer term seat (Caruso’s) and the shorter term seat (Simmons appointee) would be decided by first two highest total votes or if the seats would have one challenger facing the appointed incumbent which would be definitely an advantage to the appointee. Serving 2 years is less money than 4 years. If you organized by highest vote totals as determining who win the seats, the challengers have a better chance of winning. Going 1 on 1 by length of term is a disadvantage.