Why I’m running:

I’m running for Woodstock Supervisor because I love this town and want to provide thoughtful leadership for the community that we all care for. As Woodstock grows, let’s find ways to preserve what we love and make the changes together that our town needs. Like lowering speed limits and maintaining sidewalks.  Supporting young families and seniors with services to improve their quality of life. I’m offering open and transparent leadership on issues like these plus protecting the environment, increasing affordable housing, and supporting the arts.

 

The people who work and volunteer for the Town of Woodstock deserve thoughtful and stable support in their workplaces and on their boards and committees.  Everyone deserves a workplace free from bias and favoritism, better training for career advancement, and the budgets necessary to do their work.  Improving the workplace will better serve all of us – the Town’s employees, the volunteers, and the residents of Woodstock.

 

As Supervisor, I will reach out and strengthen partnerships with the Fire, Library, and School districts.  I recognize the essential contributions they make to the quality of life in Woodstock. Working together, we need to plan ahead as climate change brings more fire, flood, ice, and winds to our community. Caring for one another requires cooperating on a regular basis so we can come together during these difficult times. We all work better when we all work together.

 

Woodstock is an amazing place.  filled with talented artists and musicians, diverse families – young and old. Nurturing all of us are the beautiful mountains, forests, and streams of the Catskills. There’s no other place with so much greatness.

 

I want to serve as your Woodstock Supervisor and humbly ask for your vote.

Bennet Ratcliff is a white man with gray hair wearing glasses with close shaved facial hair wearing a green jacket with lapels and a gray shirt underneath. He is smiling

My Platform

Open and Transparent Government: a more open and welcoming Supervisor’s office will better serve all the residents of Woodstock

  1. Publish an understandable annual budget for the public to read
  2. Provide annual funding for our Town’s volunteer committees and their work
  3. Expand the Public be Heard comment period to allow for more time and more speakers
  4. Follow Local Purchasing and Buy Green policies that support local retailers
  5. Create an informative website and social media to keep residents up-to-date
  6. Hold regular hours each week to meet with the Supervisor, ask questions, and follow up on concerns

Protecting Woodstock’s Environment: better care of streams, forests, wetlands, and Woodstock’s rural neighborhoods

  1. Enforce the environmental protections already on the books
  2. Remove all the contaminated material from the illegal Shady Dump
  3. Expand municipal water testing results
  4. Build ADA-compliant sidewalks in the retail district, then repair and maintain them
  5. Create and fund a Department of Parks and Recreation to serve our residents’ needs
  6. Develop a bike path and walking trail masterplan and seek funding to build it
  7. Expand summer recreation programs for Youth and Seniors

Affordable Housing: implement local solutions to this national problem that fit Woodstock’s unique needs

  1. Fully fund Woodstock HomeShare to immediately create affordable options using existing houses
  2. Review all Town-owned properties (again) as sites for building affordable housing
  3. Partner with Ulster County and NY State on their new housing initiatives

Support for the Arts

  1. Create and fund an Arts Department to preserve, support and fund Woodstock’s arts economy
  2. Seek and win grants for local venues, museums, cultural organizations, festivals, and businesses
  3. Establish a registry of Woodstock artists to promote and support their work

Bio

I live in Bearsville with my partner, Jackie Kellachan, and our blended family of three boys, three girls, two dogs and a cat. I moved to Woodstock in 2015 with my daughters after a successful career as a political consultant both internationally and domestically.  I was born in Oklahoma City and lived in Colorado, Wyoming, and Arkansas as a child. After graduating from Princeton, I studied at the University of Grenoble on a Rotary Foundation Fellowship. I’ve lived and worked in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, New York, Mexico City, Miami, Bogota, and San Diego. At my first job, I worked for the Sergeant at Arms in the US Senate where I raised the US flag over the Capitol when the Senators were in session.

 

Since moving to Woodstock, I have been active in our community and served others in a number  of capacities. My focus has been on education, the arts, environment, and elections. I was twice elected to the Onteora School Board and served from 2016-2021. I worked hard to provide financial oversight for the $50 million+ annual budget.  We found the funds to bring back football and the high school musical.  We also funded a new science lab and a school resource officer from the Ulster County Sheriff’s office.  We successfully negotiated multi-year contracts to increase teacher compensation and benefits. From 2019-2021, I also served as the Board Secretary for The Secret City, a local arts organization.  I helped bring the summer processional and Arts Revival to Woodstock which employed dozens of artists and musicians. I also rewrote the bylaws to provide medical benefits and retirement funds for the organization’s full time employees.  Since 2019, I have served as Chair of the Woodstock Democratic Committee. I led the committee’s revitalization – boosting voter turnout, holding Civics Teach-Ins, and registering new voters at the Farmers Market.  This work has help to elect Democrats in Woodstock and across the Hudson Valley including Antonio Delgado, Pat Ryan, Jen Metzger, Michelle Hinchey and Sarahana Shrestha.

 

In 2021, I was elected to the Woodstock Town Board.  In one year, I have collaborated with different volunteer committees and organizations to accomplish much for the residents of Woodstock.  I collaborated with the Environmental Commission and the Planning Board to pass Critical Environmental Area protections for Zena Woods.  With the Supervisor, I successfully negotiated better benefits and wages for Town union employees.  I worked with the Tree Committee to fund and plant trees at Woodstock Elementary and along Tinker Street in Bearsville and Woodstock. I have renewed a collaboration with the Woodstock Land Conservancy, the Comeau Stewardship Advisory Committee, and the Comeau’s neighbors plant trees at Woodstock Elementary and along Tinker Street in Woodstock and Bearsville. I have renewed a collaboration with the Woodstock Land Conservancy, the Comeau Stewardship Advisory Committee, and the Comeau’s neighbors. I also collaborated with Citizens Against Terramor, the Woodstock Jewish Congregation, the Woodstock Day School, Catskill Mountainkeeper, and the Environmental Commission to stop KOA’s destruction of our community.

 

I love fishing of all kinds, always catch and release. Mink Hollow is my favorite place in the world for wild brook trout. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fishing or writing about fishing. Jackie and I also enjoy gardening. Each fall we plant garlic. In the spring, we plant tomatoes. We also plant pollinator-friendly flowers and shrub and try to keep the deer away from them.