The Town of Shawangunk will have a new Supervisor in 2024 with John Valk retiring at the end of this year. There will be no suspense as Republican-Conservative Ken Ronk Jr. is unopposed in the November 7 election.

But there are contested races for two Town Board seats and for one of the Town Justice seats.

Incumbent Brian Amthor and the town’s former highway superintendent Joseph LoCicero will be running on the 
Republican and Conservative lines and Adrienne Gelfand-Perine and Anthony Mantello will be running on the Democrat and Working Families lines for the two board seats, which carry four-year terms.

Incumbent Michael Voss (Republican, Conservative) will face off against Rebecca Mantello (Working Families) in the town justice race, which has a four-year term.
Town Clerk/Tax Collector Jane Rascoe and Highway Superintendent Rich Blazeski are both unopposed.

The Town of Shawangunk also has two representatives in the Ulster County Legislature. The seats carry two-year terms.

Incumbent Craig Lopez (No Party independent line) will go up against Kelli Palinkas Greer (Democrat, Working Families) in District 14 (Shawangunk, Wawarsing).

Republican-Conservative Richard Walls is running unopposed in District 13 (Shawangunk).

KEN RONK JR.
Ronk said his top three priorities are to improve grant writing, create short- and long-term planning and bolster the morale of town employees.

“I plan to hire a grant-writing firm to help us be better equipped to apply for grants to benefit our residents,” he said. “We need to develop a capital plan in order to prioritize projects and be better equipped to tackle the needs of both today and tomorrow. I hope to develop, in conjunction with the board, a three- and five-year plan for Shawangunk. Our No. 1 resource in town are our employees. Employees who are happy work harder for you. I plan to work with all of our bargaining units, and our non-union workers to make them feel appreciated by Town Government.”

BRIAN AMTHOR
Amthor joined the board in 2007 and has held his seat for almost 17 years. Amthor and his family own Amthor International, which is North America’s largest truck tank manufacturer.

Amthor said the biggest concern of most residents is making sure that the town maintains good roads.

“With almost 90 miles of roadway, there is always a lot to address,” he said. “But a long-range plan on how to address them is something we need to put together and implement so when people ask, ‘When is my road getting done,’ we can give them an honest answer.”

JOSEPH LOCICERO
A former highway superintendent for the town for 5 ½ years, LoCicero has been on the Wallkill School Board since 2010 and has been president since 2011.

LoCicero served two years in the U.S. Army Reserves before being transferred to the U.S. Air National Guard at Stewart Airport. He retired after 23 years of service. LoCicero has also been with the Wallkill Fire Department for over 30 years.

LoCicero feels his experience as the president of the Wallkill School Board will benefit the town.

“My school board experience working with a budget of over $70 million would be very helpful as a town board member,” he said.

LoCicero also supports the idea of having a long-range plan for the town.

ADRIENNE GELFAND-PERINE
A founding member of the Vision of Wallkill (VOW) volunteer organization, Gelfand-Perine is the president of the Friends of the Wallkill Public Library.

Gelfand-Perine, chairperson of the Town of Shawangunk Democratic Party, said she is running to break the dominance of Republicans running the town.

“For over 30 years, the same Republicans have controlled the leadership in Shawangunk and the needs of residents have mostly been ignored,” she said. “I will bring critical issues to the forefront.”

Gelfand-Perine said as a homeowner in the town since 2001 she believes there are many things that are necessary for the community to thrive.

“Our community needs public transportation, a medical facility and the creation of a Chamber of Commerce to increase the tax base by attracting small businesses and encouraging tourism,” she said.

ANTHONY MANTELLO
As a licensed message therapist, Mantello has worked with professional athletes as a member of their medical and health team to create coordinated treatment plans to help players recover from a variety of injuries and increase their athletic performance.

The focus of Mantello’s campaign is to improve basic infrastructure and build careers. He said he is talking with local entrepreneurs to attract new businesses to the town.

“Businesses that people can grow into long-term careers,” he said. “The young adults that grew up in our town have to move away because it is too expensive to live here and there are not many career opportunities, let alone job options.”