All candidates on town ballot are unopposed
The town supervisor and five other people seeking town offices are running uncontested in the Nov. 7 election.
Supervisor
Incumbent Sylvia Rozzelle, 67, of 90 West Shokan Heights Road, West Shokan, is seeking a third two-year term. She’ll be on the Democratic, Republican and Conservative lines on the ballot.
Rozzelle previously was town clerk, tax collector and records management officer for 31 years. She has lived in Olive since April 1978.
Rozzelle said the town has begun taking advantage of New York Rising money that was promised by the state six years ago in the wake of Tropical Storms Irene and Lee.
“We are finally getting to the point where we’re finally spending some of that money,” she said. “The town office building being one. It was originally in a flood zone but it got mapped out. So the roof that was leaking after ... Irene, we are replacing that with a gable roof. [And] we’re getting a new 100 kilowatt generator.”
Rozzelle also said the town has begun working with property owners who are in a flood zone in the hamlet of Boiceville.
“Of the 17 properties, there’s about $5 million of assessed value,” she said. “We did enter the New York City flood buyout program, so a lot of those residents who do qualify under that program could potentially sell to the city of New York, and either the town would take it over or the city would retain ownership of it.”
Rozzelle earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Murray State University in Kentucky in 1971.
Town Board
Jim Sofranko, 61, of 3479 state Route 28A, West Shokan, is seeking a second four-year term, He’s running on the Democratic and Working Families lines on the ballot.
Sofranko owns an electrical contracting company and has lived in the town for 33 years. He and his wife, Sharon, have two children.
“The focus of my [town] work recently has been on the building out of cable and internet,” Sofranko said. “We’ve been working with Spectrum to achieve that, and it’s been a long slow process,” Sofranko said.
Sofranko earned a bachelor’s degree in film from New York University in 1981.
He is a board member with the Catskill Watershed Corp.
Scott Kelder, 52, of 88 Kelder Road, Olivebridge, is a first-time candidate. He’ll be on the Republican and Conservative lines on the ballot.
Kelder is general manager for Pro Build in Rosendale. He is a lifelong resident of Olive, and he and his wife, Tina, have two children.
“We just finished a local flood analysis, so we have an issue with Boiceville being the business hub for our town,” Kelder said. “There are few properties that are in the floodplain, and there’s some ... big decisions ahead for the future of a commercial zone and/ or what we do with those properties.”
Kelder graduated from Onteora High School in 1983 and is a member of Samsonville United Methodist Church.
Town justice
Timothy Cox, 48, of 57 Parker Lane, Shokan, is seeking a fourth four-year term on the bench. He will be on the Democratic and Conservative lines.
Cox is corporate counsel for the Catskill Watershed Corp. He has lived in Olive for 14 years, and he and his wife, Rebecca Balzac, have two children.
Cox earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice from SUNY Plattsburgh in 1991 and a law degree from Pace Law School in White Plains in 1995.
He is a cub master with Cub Scout Pack 63.
Town clerk/ tax collector
Dawn Giuditta, 50, of 539
Upper Samsonville Road, Olivebridge, is seeking a second four-year term. She will be on the Democratic and Conservative lines.
She previously clerk for the town court.
Giuditta is a lifelong resident of Olive. She and her husband, Jack, an employee of the he town Highway Department, have three children.
Giuditta graduated from
Onteora High School in 1985.
Highway superintendent
Brian Burns, 39, of 286 High Point Mountain Road, West Shokan, was appointed town highway superintendent in January 2016 and elected to serve the remaining year of a four-year term in November 2016.
He owns the excavation company Burns Enterprises.
Burns is a lifelong resident
of Olive. He and his wife, Christina, has two children.
He graduated from Onteora
High School in 1995 and is a member of the Bushkill Road and Gun Club.