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Conservative Committee Candidates - October 2017
From left: Dan Drexelius (Highway Supt.), Jennifer Baney (Town Council), Mark Frentzel (Town Justice), Pete Marston (Town Council).
The Grand Island Conservative Committee looks for candidates that represent the values of the Conservative Party. These candidates, fellow Islanders, are dedicated to the betterment of Grand Island while maintaining the Conservative values. Now, more than ever, is the time for you to become involved and vote. The Conservative Party is the champion of the taxpayers and families of our community. The Conservative party continues its commitment to traditional American values, the preservation of life and return to civility. Please vote to elect the Conservative slate that will address the needs of our growing community in a fiscally responsible manner.Meet Your Candidates - Cyndy Montana - October 2017
My name is Cyndy Montana. I am running for Town Council and I ask for your vote on November 7th.
What I will do once elected:
I have lived on Grand Island for twelve years, after having met a life-long Islander whom I married. Not only did I fall in love with Pete, but also Grand Island. I have finally found my forever home. I can’t imagine a better balance of a small town community only minutes away from big city attributes. The biggest reason I am running for Town Council are my two children, Kaylee and Jaxen. I want to help plan the future of Grand Island and make it the best it can be for residents, families and businesses alike.
I have been involved in many volunteer capacities on Grand Island. From room parent every year to PTA Board roles at multiple school and levels to physically building Kaegebein’s playground, to working with the School District during the Capital Campaign design. My past experience in hospitality, quality assurance, fundraising and public relations and finally building two companies from scratch have given me diversity and skills that will lend themselves to the role of Town Council member. And preparing me the most for this role is the 18 months I spent working as the Assistant to the Supervisor. I know the Town issues inside and out and have day to day knowledge of how Town Hall works and what needs to be improved.
I am very proud to have been a part of the leadership team who has been moving Grand Island forward since January 2016. I enjoyed being in a support role, but am so excited about all the wonderful things that are happening, I want to be part of the leadership that shapes Grand Island’s future. I have received tremendous support since I announced my candidacy. I am so very grateful. Get out and vote on November 7th! And please vote Cyndy Montana.
Meet Your Candidates - Pete Marston - October 2017
Pete Marston is running for Grand Island Town Council.
Pete Marston has been a Grand Island resident for over 35 years and has strong ties to the community. After graduating from Grand Island High School, Pete went on to study mechanical engineering, drafting, and advanced machining, obtaining certificates in welding and electrical. For eight years he worked as a mechanical engineer, often traveling to Europe in the course of his employment. He has been the owner of Marston Power Equipment on Grand Island Blvd. for over 15 years.
As a long-time resident and the operator of a small business, Pete has a strong presence in the community. He is already active in Town government as chairman of the Planning Board and a member of the Long Range Planning Committee. He was on the Assessment Review Board. Through these boards and committees, he has an unparalleled understanding of zoning and land use on Grand Island.
Pete is a strong supporter of the Boy Scouts, the Grand Island Snowmobile Club and is co-chair of the annual Grand Island Lawn Mower Race. Recently, Pete held two “Scrap for Scouts” fundraisers at his business, which resulted in significant donations to Cub Scout Pack 630.
Pete knows what it takes to run a successful small business. He is a strong promoter of buying local, and understands the obstacles that small businesses, like his own, face. Pete grew up around construction because his father was a commercial general contractor. As a result, he is familiar with construction principles, practices, blueprints, infrastructure, and deadlines. Pete is dedicated to Grand Island: his political aspirations start and end here. Pete seeks only to use his wealth of experience in business and government together with his strong ties to Grand Island to continue to improve this extraordinary community through strong, responsible, and accountable leadership. Pete resides with his wife, Sue, and son, Pete Jr.
Thank You Grand Island! - August 2017
Click photo for larger view.
Even with the threat of daily downpours, the friends of Dan Drexelius, who is campaigning to be your Grand Island Highway superintendent, held a very successful candidate meet and greet over the weekend with hundreds of islanders stopping by to wish Dan well. Attendees commented that they were looking forward to Double D putting his 40 years of construction experience to work for the taxpayers of Grand Island. The proceeds from the meet and greet were donated to the Charles Deglopper memorial expansion project.Meet Your Candidates - Mark Frentzel - August 2017
As your current town judge for the last twelve years, a practicing attorney on Grand Island for thirty-two years, and a former police officer I'm confident in saying I have the proven skill set, capabilities and genuine commitment to serve Grand Island. I am proud of the fact that I hold firm to fairness, integrity and impartiality in all that I do. Additionally, I remain at the forefront of managing growth in our town court's caseload, and in addressing the complexities of ever changing social issues, legal procedures and law.
When I graduated from law school I chose not to work for a large firm. I preferred to work in a local law practice were I would meet and help people every day. In one sense I've always felt like the "country lawyer". People routinely stop by my office, give me a quick call or see me about the Island to discuss concerns, often times very casual but always critically important to my clients and me. As an attorney I have helped clients with real estate, wills and estates, domestic abuse, small business issues, property disputes, financial difficulties, family concerns, and drinking and drug problems. As a general practitioner of the law and as former police officer I pride myself in having a wide breadth of knowledge; knowledge that is indispensible in the court room as your judge.
As a member of our community I have volunteered my time with the Grand Island Lions Club, the VFW, the Soccer Club and the Young Life Golf Committee. My personal engagement with the community makes me acutely aware of what is important to Grand Island residents and contributes greatly to making me a more effective judge.
In keeping with the admirable precedent set by Island judges Francis Bud Pritchard, Eric Riemann, Sybil Kennedy and myself, I have never asked the citizens of Grand Island to finance my election campaigns. Many people, and I mean many people, urge me to hold a fundraiser to raise money. While the concept works for other elected officials, I believe it poses a risk for impropriety as a judicial candidate. When a person or lawyer appears in my court, unlike many judges, I never have to ponder the morality of who gave me money. I never have and never will let politics or corruption into the courtroom.
Your town judge needs to have a wealth of life experiences, common sense, compassion, strength to do the right thing and above all the ability to be fair and impartial. No matter who you are, you cannot acquire these things in a short period of time. There is no online class or You Tube video to give you this knowledge, you have to live and experience it as I have these past thirty five years as an attorney and as your judge.
So, I humbly ask for your vote in this year's General Election on November 7th. Retaining an experienced judge in our court is critically important in this year's judicial election because several veteran court members may be retiring in the near future. Now, more than ever, voters need to retain the wealth of knowledge and fairness that I bring to the bench. Your vote for Mark Frentzel will ensure this happens.
Pete Marston Campaign Kickoff - August 2017
Friends of Pete Marston are hosting a campaign kickoff on Wednesday, August 30th at the VFW Post 9249, 2121 Grand Island Blvd., from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pete is running on the Republican ticket for Town Council. Tickets include food, beer, wine and music, and are $25 presale and $30 at the door. RSVP by August 22nd, checks payable to "Friends of Pete Marston". Presale checks mailed to 3040 Love Rd., Grand Island.
Meet & Greet Dan Drexelius - August 2017
Friends of Grand Island Highway Superintendent candidate Dan Drexelius are hosting a "Meet & Greet" on Saturday, August 19th at the Rod & Gun Club, 1083 Whitehaven Road. Tickets are $20 and include hot dogs, hamburgers, music, beer & pop. Kids under 12 are free and there will be a bounce house and pony rides. See flyer for details.
Daniel Drexelius, or "Double D" as he is known by many islanders, is pleased to announce his candidacy to be your Grand Island Highway Superintendent. "I'm for Grand Island first" is not just another catchy campaign slogan, but comes from Dan's heart.
With Dan's 40 years of construction experience and technical knowledge of the industry, he is the most qualified candidate for the office of Highway Superintendent. He believes in being accountable to the taxpayers of Grand Island, which includes access and a full work day. He will bring knowledge and experience to this position that has been missing for years.
Double D has built his reputation as a "doer", and getting the job done. Fellow volunteers are amazed at what he has achieved and have witnessed the hard work and dedication he poured into community projects over the years on his own time, and can only imagine what he will accomplish as an employee of the taxpayer, when it is his job! He worked to help keep the Miracle League field and adaptive playground on budget and completed the estimated 5 year project in 1 ½ years. He is currently involved in the Charles N. DeGlopper expansion project and was a key player in getting the land donated to the VFW and American Legion.
Dan intends on utilizing his business sense as well as common sense as Highway Superintendent, so that the taxpayers can be better served. His credentials and years of experience include private individual, commercial and government snow and ice removal, constructing and building roads for subdivisions, repairing driveways and parking lots, including fixing potholes the proper way with the correct material and technique to make the repair last, roadside ditching including driveway culverts, piping and maintenance of various construction equipment and vehicles.
You can rest assured that Daniel Drexelius has the experience, qualifications and insight needed to excel as Grand Island Highway Superintendent and make a difference. If elected, Dan's first promise that will better serve Grand Island taxpayer's, is to expand Highway office hours to 7-5pm, and not closing the doors at 2pm, as is the current practice. To learn more about Daniel Drexelius or to volunteer www.dd-drex.com.
Meet Your Candidates - Richard "Dick" Crawford - August 2017
Richard “Dick” Crawford has announced his candidacy for Grand Island Highway Superintendent.
As your next elected Highway Superintendent, I believe my 19 years as Town Councilman, 10 years as Deputy Town Supervisor and 2 years as Deputy Highway Superintendent uniquely qualify me for this position. The administrative role of Highway superintendent involves a great variety of responsibilities under New York state Highway laws.
In my role as councilman and current role as Deputy Highway Superintendent I have prepared budgets for the highway department and reviewed operating budgets for all town departments. I have been part of the process to negotiate the town's union contracts and professional services agreements. Proactively working on town projects with all town departments we have accomplished many projects benefiting the community. My current working relationship with all town departments, the community and knowledge of the towns infrastructure has strengthened our combined ability to accomplish our goals.
The highway departments purpose is to provide high quality services to the residents, industries and businesses in the most cost-effective way. I firmly believe that it is our fiduciary responsibility to manage taxpayer's money with long term planning, focused goals and clear accountability to achieve the best results within our highway budget. My role for the past two years has been to run the operation of managing 16 full time and 7 part-time employees to maintain our system of roads, storm sewers, machinery and fleet of vehicle's town wide. I have the budgeting and management experience to plan for our Pavement Management Program, Drainage/Storm Sewer Maintenance, Chipping, Equipment, Labor, Materials and Snow removal. As Highway Superintendent, I will continue to look at new technology that will assist the highway department to improve our highway infrastructure.
Governmental Accomplishments/Boards
As councilman and Deputy Supervisor (1996 to 2013) I had the opportunity to work and serve on the following committees and help develop the listed initiatives.
Public/Community Service: As a member of the community, I am an active member in the Grand Island Lions Club. I have held the office of President and have chaired or co-chaired the spaghetti dinner, golf tournament, casino night and special kids picnic. Founding member of the Grand Island Alumni Association that provides scholarships for college bound students. In addition, I also support many other Grand Island organizations.
As a community activist, and your neighbor, I ask for your vote on Primary Day Tuesday, September 12, 2017. Thank you.
Meet Your Candidates - Jennifer Baney - August 2017
My name is Jennifer Baney, and I would like to introduce myself as a candidate for town council. I’m thankful for the encouragement of others to run for this position and appreciate you taking just a few moments to learn about me and what I feel the core values and skills are that are needed for this important position.
My background is in the field of education, having earned consecutive degrees from both Houghton College and The University at Buffalo. My husband and I moved to Grand Island in 2009, appreciating the island for its affordability, small town feel, and beauty. I spent about a decade teaching, the majority of which was as a tenured teacher in the Williamsville Central School District.
In 2011, coinciding with the birth of our first son, I decided to take a leave from teaching, Nearly six full years later, I've enjoyed the gift of being home with our children. This time away from the workplace has allowed me the opportunity to get more involved in our community. I serve on my oldest son’s school board, have helped on the leadership boards of two local mom’s groups, am active in leading a variety of activities at our church, and have just recently been asked to serve as a chairperson for a college fair coming to Buffalo in the fall. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given. I feel the skills I’ve gained as a teacher, wife, mother, leader, and collaborator could all be beneficial to our town government.
I’ve also spent the last year engaging in and observing our political process on Grand Island. As stated earlier, at the encouragement of others, I’ve decided to pursue a position.
My current platform for town council has to do with the following:
My talking points have become known, as I speak with others, as my Four Pillars. In my endorsement interviews and conversations with Island residents, I always emphasize that, if elected, I am only 20% of the process. I can't advocate for things I am unable to do on my own, which is why I advocate regularly for collaborative leadership.
Four Pillars:
1. A Return to Civility: In board meetings and in interactions with elected officials I will act in an appropriate way. Elected officials should carry themselves in a way that we are not afraid to have our children attend board meetings and functions.
2. Educational Collaboration: I'll use my training and experience in the field of education to assist in collaboration between the town and all educational entities, as much as I am able (public and private schools, preschools, home school groups, our town library, etc).
3. Expanded Political Engagement: I know many great people on the Island that are not engaged in the political realm. I want vacant volunteer positions on our town boards and committees to be filled by some of our best and brightest, and I am confident that I can help many residents who are currently using their talents at their jobs, churches, and with their favorites civic organizations to begin investing some of their skills to benefit the town. The more qualified leadership we can engage, the better.
4. Fiscal Prudence: In our home, we do our very best to manage our finances well. Doing so has allowed me to be home with our boys since 2011. I believe our town can update and even expand what we offer to our residents, but we need to plan for it and use our resources, as well as access grants, in creative and unique ways.
Also important to note, is that the challenges we face currently may be different than what we face a few years down the road. New opportunities will present themselves and unanticipated choices will have to be made. Because of this, character, integrity, and a strong moral compass can never be overlooked.
A successful fundraiser was held at the Miracle League Field on July 7, 2017. Over 150 guests enjoyed the day, especially the kids!
