Press release emailed to [email protected]:
NEW PALTZ – The One Community Party announced a full slate of candidates for the Village of New Paltz election. Pete Healey is running for Mayor, and Trustee candidates Sally M. Rhoads and Martin Sherow are seeking four-year terms. Trustee candidate Stewart P. Glenn is seeking a two-year term, filling the seat vacated by Patrick O’Donnell and currently held by appointee Robert Feldman.
According to Healey, “This election will be an early referendum on the unification process. We have a slate of dedicated and experienced community leaders who share a long commitment to local public service. We are prepared to resurrect respect and integrity on the Village Board, emphasizing open communication and governance to better enable community participation.”
Following through with the recommendations of the consolidation study is a top priority. Sally Rhoads, active with consolidation issues since the 1970s, currently serves as a member of the study’s Working Group. “From both a social and an economic viewpoint, New Paltz can no longer afford the luxury of two governments. We have tax and quality of life issues requiring timely solutions which can only be positively addressed and achieved by working together as one community,” said Rhoads.
Long time community leader Stewart Glenn has also been actively involved with the current efforts to develop consolidation recommendations. In addition to increased efficiency, Glenn believes the unification of two governments will yield dramatic improvements in transparency, communication and volunteerism. Glenn noted, “We intend for the Village Board to be responsive, responsible, open and accountable in our dealings with the public. This will encourage volunteers who are the backbone of our government. Community members should be treated as partners, not adversaries.”
One of the most prominent examples of recent barriers to volunteerism has been the ongoing struggle of the volunteer Fire Department, which had been placed on a spending freeze by the current administration. “We plan to sit down with Fire Department leadership at the earliest opportunity so that we may work out both short- and long-term plans to ensure their sustainability. This department serves all of New Paltz without fanfare or pay,” explained Healey. The strategies to recruit and retain volunteers will initiate with the Fire Department and be extended to all committees and commissions.
Infrastructure improvements also hold an important place on the platform. Trustee candidate Martin Sherow added, “Safe, accessible parks, walkable sidewalks, and well-maintained water systems are a necessity, not only for the residents’ quality of life, but also for the economic vitality of our community. It’s clear that we are one community when we recognize that town residents and businesses also depend on strong village infrastructure.”
To learn more about the One Community Party, please visit the slate website at www.OneCommunityNewPaltz.com
. The Village of New Paltz election will be held on May 3, 2011 at the New Paltz Firehouse, 25 Plattekill Ave., from 12:00pm until 9:00pm.
FYI, we’re running to make one government out of two. New Paltz has both a village and a town government and there’s a committee currently looking at how and whether to merge them. All 4 of us are united in the belief that we no longer need two governments. My own agenda will include proposing the use of cumulative voting for a combined village/town council to break the stranglehold the Democrats have on local government here (all 14 elected officials in New Paltz are Democrats).
And my main opponent for Mayor is former Mayor Jason West, so this will be a Mayoral campaign that pits a Green against a green (there is a third candidate but no one here believes he’ll be a factor, even in the role of “spoiler”).