NEW BERLIN – After initially advocating for her opponent, the incumbent of New Berlin’s mayoral race hopes to keep her seat in a write-in campaign.

Village Trustee Wade Schrag will appear as the sole mayoral candidate on the Village of New Berlin’s ballot Wednesday, but current Mayor Carol Riley has rescinded her earlier decision to retire and launched a write-in campaign.

Riley originally helped to gather the 50 local signatures needed for Schrag’s petition, which aided in placing him on the ballot in the first place.

The two candidates’ falling out began with a debate over the village’s decision to sell 10 acres of an athletic park, Fish Field, to Milford Academy for $46,000.

“I did not take out a petition because I was at that time ready to retire. I decided that I really need to run because of the Milford situation, and because I am already in the process of trying to acquire a grant to improve the village’s infrastructure and water system,” said Riley, who has been mayor for the last 14 years.

“I chose to run for village mayor this term, because I feel I can work with the rest of the village board members to improve our community for everyone, and bring some much-needed change to our village,” said Schrag, who has been on the village board for the past seven years and served as deputy mayor in 2008.

Elections will be held Wednesday at the village hall at 13 Main Street. The polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. All voters must already be registered with the Chenango County Board of Elections. To write in a vote for Riley her name must be correctly spelled on the ballot (Carol Riley) in order for the vote to be correctly counted. Also running unopposed in Wednesday’s election are Village Board Trustee’s Terry Potter and Michael Conroe.

The New Berlin Village Board voted unanimously Feb. 9 to sell the Fish Field property to the academy following a debate between Schrag and Riley over the move.