Longtime town supervisor faces challenge Brian Powers
Town Supervisor Robert Stanley, a Republican, is being challenged in his re-election bid by Democrat Brian Powers.
The winner will serve a two-year term starting Jan. 1, 2020.
Powers, 62, of 30 Park Road, Chichester, is a writer and retired publisher. He He has lived in the town for 30 years and has two children.
“I think we have a lot of process issues here in the town that need to be looked at,” said Powers, a first-time candidate. “The way our town government has been run needs some reflection and potentially some reform.”
Powers said Shandaken needs to “support the success of its entire hospitality industry and not selective parts of that industry.”
The “entire industry,” he said, means “hotels, B&Bs and short-term rentals. They are all part of a picture that’s an economic ecosystem.”
Powers earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative religion from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie in 1980.
Robert Stanley
Stanley, 49, of 284 Main St., Pine Hill, is owner of Wheelhouse Inn in Pine Hill. He has been Shandaken supervisor since 2010 and previously served four years on the Town Board.
Stanley has lived in Shandaken since 1978 and is married with four children.
“One of the major priorities is the Phoenicia Water District,” he said. “We currently have a grant application ... for a $750,000 project for improvements and repairs. We’re talking about completion of a loop, the addition of filtration pump, and several other assorted things that need to be done.”
Regarding local lodging, Stanley noted there are 250 properties in Shandaken that are used as short-term rentals and said the town is trying to enact laws to regulate them.
“Currently, the shortterm rentals do not fall within any guidelines under our code and technically are an illegal activity,” he said. “We have a townwide survey that went out and have a Short-Term Rental Committee to try and find a better way to address these issues.”
Stanley earned an associate’s degree in English from Ulster County Community College in 1991 and a bachelor’s degree in playwriting and early American literature from SUNY New Paltz in 2001.
He is a board member with the Phoenicia Playhouse.