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Longtime Busti town board member joins county Legislature

MAYVILLE — A longtime member of the Busti Town Board is the new representative for District 10 on the Chautauqua County Legislature.

On Wednesday, the county Legislature approved the nomination of Kenneth Lawton, R-Busti, to be the new representative for District 10.

Lawton had served on the Busti Town Board during two different stints for the past 15 years. He enjoyed his time on the board, but was looking for a new role.

“I think this will be a nice way to continue participating in local government,” he said following the legislature’s monthly voting session meeting in Mayville.

Legislator Mark Odell, R-Brocton, said he has known Lawton for many years and that he is a “high caliber” person who will make a great addition to the legislature. Lawton said he wants to focus on the health of Chautauqua Lake while serving on the legislature.

Lawton was last re-elected to the Busti Town Board in 2017. He still has two years remaining on his four-year term on the board.

Earlier this week, Randy Holcomb, town of Busti Republican Party Committee vice chairman, said if Lawton was approved by the legislature for the District 10 position that Jesse Robbins, Busti supervisor, would need to find a nominee for the Busti Town Board to fill Lawton’s vacancy. The nominee would then need to be approved by the Busti Town Board.

There was a vacancy in District 10 following the appointment of PJ Wendel as county executive. Wendel was approved to be the new county executive following former County Executive George Borrello’s, R-Sunset Bay, special election victory last November to be the representative for the 57th State Senate District.

Following Wendel’s appointment to be county executive, the town of Busti Republican Party Committee started working to find a nominee for District 10. Holcomb said six of the 10 members of the Republican Party Committee who live in District 10 unanimously approved Lawton as the nominee after a series of interviews last week. District 10 covers all of the village of Lakewood, parts of the town of Busti, the southwest section of Jamestown and a part of the town of Ellicott.

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