GWL candidate Q&A

In Greenwood Lake, Village Trustees Katheleen Holder and Chad Sellier are unopposed in their quest for re-election for two-year terms.

The Warwick Advertiser posed three questions to the candidates to allow them to outline what’s important to them as public officials, to discuss their role within the community and to point out what they believe are important issues for the Greenwood Lake and its residents.

Here are their answers (candidates are listed in alphabetical order):

Katheleen (Buckley) Holder

1. I was born and raised in the Village of Greenwood Lake. I moved to Virginia Beach, Va., in 1999 where I lived with my husband Tommy for two years while he served in the U.S. Navy. In 2001 we moved back to Greenwood Lake to raise our three sons: Kevin (17), Joseph (15) and Dennis (12).

I have worked in many different fields as a project manager for over 20 years; I am an office manager for a local restaurant.

My volunteer and community service include: Treasurer of the Greenwood Lake Soccer Club as well as head coach to the U13 travel team; the Committee Chair and Den leader for Greenwood Lake Cub Scout Pack 121 for five years; committee member for Boy Scout Troop 121 for more than five years; president for the Greenwood Lake Gaelic Cultural Society. My family attends Holy Rosary Church.

As a village trustee, I have worked as liaison to the Greenwood Lake School District, Library, Chamber of Commerce and Recreation as well as the coordinator of the use of our Community Center. For the past six years I have coordinated our Summer Concert Series and other events at the Thomas P. Morahan Waterfront Park.

2. I am proud to live in such an amazing community and love the work that we have accomplished as a Village Board. If re-elected, I hope to accomplish additional constructive avenues for our youth as well as coming up with new ideas to drive tourism to our area.

3. It is important for the village government and the community to support our local businesses. These businesses have always given back to this community. I hope to make it more appealing for new businesses to want to open within the village while also supporting our thriving business community.

As a part of the Village Board we will continue to look at our aging infrastructure and budget wisely to make improvements. We will continue to pursue grants and funding to maintain the quality of our lake and village, while making it accessible to our residents and tourists.

Chad T. Sellier

1. My family, which includes my wife of 22 years and my 12-year-old daughter, has called Greenwood Lake our home for the past eleven years. I have been a Village Trustee for the past six years serving as the Liaison to the Planning Board, ZBA, Comprehensive Planning Committee and Economic Development. I am the President and Chair of The Greenwood Lake Bark Park, Inc. I am a member of the Greenwood Lake Chamber of Commerce, the Greenwood Lake Elks Lodge, and continue to be involved with many of Greenwood Lake’s local organizations.

I have a BA in Economics from Baruch College and a MBA from Mercy College. I have spent 22 years in the banking and brokerage industry in operations, administration, and project management. For the past three years, I have also served as an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Business at Mercy College in the Managerial Analytics department teaching Data Visualization to MBA students.

2. The citizens of Greenwood Lake can expect me to continue to approach the job with the following mindset:

Pro Community: maintaining and enhancing both the tangible community, which is our environment consisting of our lake, beach, trails, parks, and ball fields, and the intangible which is enhancing our sense of community, those things which increase the thread count of our social fabric.

Pro Youth Development: supporting activities, events and programs that aid our youth in developing the life skills necessary to be productive in our society and successful in their career path.

Pro Business and Investment: supporting programs which foster a positive economic cycle of business expansion, job creation, and spending in our local economy.

3. The most important issues facing our community in the coming years are village infrastructure and lake management. My focus will be to ensure that we, as a government, set aside adequate funds in a fiscally responsible manner to upgrade our aging water system and maintain a healthy, vibrant lake.