Both Susan Ainslie and Kathleen Yen, who ran unopposed for the Village of Lansing Board of Trustees, won reelection on Tuesday night. Ainslie received 52 votes and Yen received 57 votes, according to unofficial results posted by the Tompkins County Board of Elections Tuesday night.
Turnout was lower than previous trustee elections. Tuesday’s race included a total of 60 votes, compared to 83 votes in the 2025 trustee election.
More than 3,500 people live in the village, according to the town’s website.
Ainslie and Yen are both trustees on the Community Party line, which aims to “promote the general welfare of the residents of the Village of Lansing by bringing together the residents of the Village to work together to maintain a livable place in which to reside and work,”. The group’s mission centers on unity and local priorities rather than national political divides, according to Ainslie.
The party is explicitly nonpartisan, with membership “open to all residents of the Village of Lansing who support this purpose, irrespective of national political affiliation,” according to Ainslie. Ainslie said that this structure allows officials to focus on practical governance rather than ideological conflict.
Even though the whole board may not align with the Community Party, they all “try to rise above the national polarization… and just stick to village issues and make the village a better place to live,” Yen said.
Ainslie and Yen agreed that it is unproductive to discuss national politics or tensions since they distract from the local issues in need of repair.
“We try to support each other in our strengths rather than competing — because then nothing gets accomplished,” Yen said.
Ainslie, who has lived in Tompkins County for most of her life, brings a wide-ranging professional background to the role, including work in food service management, real estate, health care and education. She currently works for Educational Consulting Services and has served on several local boards, including Foodnet, the Ithaca Board of Realtors and Better Housing for Tompkins County. She first joined the Lansing Board in May 2022.
Her experience in local government extends beyond the Board of Trustees. Ainslie currently serves as a voting member of the Tompkins County Youth Services Board and as a commissioner on the Southern Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Water Commission.
Ainslie values these roles as “opportunities to listen, learn and advocate for the interests of our residents and our Village government and staff.”
Yen also brings a diverse professional background to the table, spanning healthcare, education and community service. She was heavily involved in the Red Cross’s Southern Tier Chapter, helping pilot a childcare and emergency training course that was later adopted nationally. Yen also contributes to the Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal Organization and Environmental Management Council.
Yen hopes to prioritize environmental issues in her upcoming term.
“Environmental issues are extremely important,” Yen said. ”They're totally linked to health, economic and social issues — you can't really separate them.”
Yen also placed emphasis on the Village’s affordability, claiming “affordability is one of the biggest challenges,” especially “workforce housing that people can actually afford, and supportive housing.”
Ainslie’s campaign focused on maintaining continuity in Village leadership while advancing several long-term policy priorities. Among them is the effort to update the Village Comprehensive Plan and align zoning regulations, a process expected to continue into 2026, according to Ainslie.
The Comprehensive Plan is a “long-term vision” for the village’s development efforts, which establishes land use regulations and sets planning goals for ten years, according to the 2010-2025 Comprehensive Plan.
She said she intends “to continue to support the trustees efforts to update both the VOL Comprehensive Plan and the VOL Planning Board efforts to bring our Zoning Code and Chart of Uses into alignment.”
The Community Party platform also emphasizes balancing development with preservation — a key concern in a growing region with a 6.63% population increase since 2020. Its stated goals include “planned development in accordance with the Village Comprehensive Plan,” preserving open space and supporting local businesses while keeping taxes low.
For Ainslie, these priorities are closely aligned with the village’s identity. Having both owned homes and rented in the Village of Lansing, she points to her personal experience as shaping her understanding of residents’ needs.
“I grew up on a dairy farm in Ithaca,” she noted in campaign materials, and she holds a long-standing connection to the area as she was a lecturer at Cornell University and her family members attended.
Looking to the future, Yen hopes to see a more connected Village of Lansing with expanded services, greater affordability and stronger ties between residents and local businesses. She also expressed hope for seeing more people getting involved in the Board of Trustees, especially younger generations.
Merely coming to their meetings could diversify the point of views that are recognized, Yen said.
Kaitlyn Recchiuti is a member of the Class of 2029 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is a contributor for the News department and can be reached at kcr59@cornell.edu.
