Incumbent Woodstock town supervisor Bill McKenna squares off against rival Bennet Ratcliff while a four-way race for two other town-board seats takes place on November 7. The position of town highway superintendent position is also being contested.
McKenna had said he was ready to let someone else take the reins and perhaps make a run for highway superintendent until council member Ratcliff announced his candidacy, exacerbating a bitter rivalry between the two at oft-contentious town-board meetings.
Bill McKenna, a former councilman, was appointed as town supervisor in 2017 to replace the late Jeremy Wilber, Woodstock’s longest-serving supervisor who died in office after a long illness. McKenna was elected that same year to a full term and then re-elected in 2019 and 2021. Aside from a 2019 write-in campaign by former supervisor Jeff Moran, McKenna has faced no opposition — until this year.
McKenna lives in Shady with his wife Hilary. They have an adopted son, Gabriel, who lives in Kingston, and he has a stepson, Jory Serota.
He has been plagued by accusations from Ratcliff of inappropriate conduct with a town employee and cleared of wrongdoing by an independent investigating attorney hired by the town board.
Neighbors of 10 Church Lane in Shady, where contractor Joseph Karolys dumped fill contaminated with construction debris, have accused McKenna of not handling the cleanup properly/ Ratcliff and two town-board candidates have joined in that accusation.
But McKenna said the property was cleaned up pursuant to town law and poses no danger.
In June, the state Department of Environmental Conservation sent a letter stating it funds no issue.
The larger construction debris was hauled to a licensed facility, According to McKenna, the remainder, when pulverized, is no longer considered construction debris. McKenna has reached out to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which he believes will find no issue. If they do, he said, it will give the town more ammunition to pursue a more thorough cleanup.
Bennet Ratcliff, a communications and public-affairs strategist, is completing his first term on the town board and is now running for supervisor. He lost to McKenna in the June Democratic primary and is running on the Working Families Party (WFP) line.
Prior to that, Ratcliff was on the Onteora School Board from 2016 to 2021. He also served as chair of the Woodstock Democratic Committee until stepping down after this year’s primary to run on the Working Families Party line.
WFP often asks candidates to decline the party line if they don’t win the Democratic nomination, but Ratcliff and town-board candidates Linda Lover and Michael Veitch did not do so. WFP wrote a letter to the editor in which it said it “does not agree with or support the way the town supervisor and council races have unfolded, and we will not be backing either set of candidates this November.”
Questions have surfaced during the primary season about Ratcliff’s role in a 2009 Honduras coup and a personal bankruptcy discharged in 2020. Ratcliff said he had nothing to do with the coup and was brought in to facilitate democratic elections.
Ratcliff said his bankruptcy had no bearing on his fitness for office or ability to be the town’s financial steward. “I don’t think it’s part of the civic discourse to pick over the bones of my dead wife and her divorce,” he said during the primary season.
Ratcliff has called for the town to settle a recent complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over accusations of sexual harassment within the Woodstock police instead of fighting it in court.
McKenna, with the assistance of a labor attorney, questioned all police personnel and considered the matter closed, but some officers involved pursued the matter with the EEOC.
Ratcliff has also called for the complete removal off all fill dumped at 10 Church Road in Shady. He said the homeowner can be forced to pay through a levy on his taxes. McKenna had proposed such a solution and proposed setting aside $200,000 in surplus funds to start the process. Ratcliff dismissed the idea as financially irresponsible. A vote was never taken.
Ratcliff is opposed to the proposed zoning amendments designed to encourage the development of more affordable housing, a direction favored by McKenna and Ricci, Ratcliff supported instead the formation of a community development and planning agency.
Town board
Anula Courtis is running for a town-board seat for the first time on a ticket with Laura Ricci and McKenna. She is a first-generation American and daughter of Greek and Polish parents.
Courtis founded a healthcare technology company that provides access to medicine for vulnerable populations.
Courtis co-founded the Woodstock Women’s March, chaired the Woodstock Human Rights Commission, and served on a police reform and reinvention committee. In June, she headed the bear task force at McKenna’s request to educate the public and minimize human interactions with bears.
Born in Albany, Courtis grew up in Schenectady, moving to Woodstock in 2015.
Courtis wants to stop the idea of people dividing into factions instead of working together — especially in a time when people are being forced out of a community they love and know.
Linda Lover is running for a town-board seat on the WFP line after losing the Democratic primary.
Lover, a Newburgh native, is a retired teacher and Newburgh Free Academy graduate. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art education from SUNY New Paltz and operated a licensed daycare and pre-school for 14 years before moving to Saugerties in 1993. She moved to Woodstock with her husband Terry in 2015.
She is a Woodstock Public Library trustee and short-term rental committee member.
Lover was vice-chair of the Woodstock Democratic Committee until after the primary, when she stepped down to run on the WFP line. She also served on the Complete Streets Committee and Woodstock Immigrant Support.
Lover is in favor of greater public-housing options than what the proposed zoning amendments aim to do to encourage the development of affordable housing.
Laura Ricci is running for a third term on the town board on a ticket with McKenna and Courtis.
She has 33 years of experience as a project manager. She has served as deputy supervisor and on the planning board.
She shepherded the review of the new telecommunications law that restricts placement of 5G equipment and a wellhead protection law that took a decade of effort.
More recently, her leadership on the zoning revision committee will help complete the zoning changes designed to promote affordable housing. She also worked on behalf of the town in opposition of the Terramor glamping resort in Saugerties.
Michael Veitch, a longtime Woodstock resident, is running for the town board on the WFP line after listing the Democratic primary. He made an unsuccessful run for the seat in the early 2000s.
Veitch is chair of the town tree committee, an associate real-estate broker, and a singer-songwriter. He is a member of Friends of Comeau and former town environmental commission member.
Veitch prefers more public resources to handle the town housing crisis instead of the proposed zoning amendments, which he terms “a gold rush” for developers.
He also is in favor of a full-time town grantswriter. He feels the town government is leaving money on the proverbial table.
Highway superintendent
Donald Allen versus Tim Keefe. For the first time in quite a while, the office of highway superintendent is being contested. Scott Bonestell, a longtime department employee, has retired as highway superintendent, leaving the position up for grabs. Vying for the position are Donald Allen on the Democratic line and Tim Keefe for the Air, Land & Water Party.
Allen, a retired City of Kingston deputy fire chief, is a longtime Woodstock resident. His wife is a registered nurse. He works part-time for the highway department. He earned an associate’s degree in fire science from SUNY Ulster.
Allen believes his experience as deputy fire chief are similar to running a highway department. His biggest responsibility was to make sure the firefighters didn’t get hurt and got home to their families.
Allen has experience running various pieces of equipment for an excavating company.
Keefe, a longtime Woodstock resident, lives with his wife Kim. They have four grown children. Another son, also named Tim, died last year.
Keefe, a public servant for 30 years, retired in 2017 after working primarily in construction and excavation. He served as part-time building inspector for area towns, including Woodstock, for many years.
“We need some leadership,” he said. “There’s a lot of turnover, because of pay and other issues. We lose two or three (employees) every year. I’d like to see equitable pay.”
Keefe said it was costly for the town to train someone, only to lose them in three to four years.
Town clerk
Jackie Earley is running unopposed for town clerk on the Democratic line. Earley was considering retirement, but decided to run for another term.
Join the family! 
