2026 New York General Election

Marcel Nagele

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Buket Urgen

In the race for the Democratic line for a seat on the Town Board, Marcel Nagele handily defeated Daniel Gallant 766-516. Nagele, 59, is a self-employed excavation contractor and has lived in the town since 1989. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in 2025.

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Marcel Nagele: “Due to the Selina Hotel debacle, the contamination issue in Shady, and detection of contaminants in our municipal water system, all of which I’ve been greatly involved in, I’ve gained much knowledge of our zoning and solid waste laws, building codes, as well as Department of Health, EPA and New York state requirements for drinking water standards,” Nagele said. “I’ve also been providing the Woodstock Environmental Commission with information regarding the Shady contamination issue. I’m on the management team of the Drinking Water Source Protection Program and a member of Woodstockers United for Change. Additionally, with more than 21 years managing the property at the nonprofit Byrdcliffe Art Colony, together with my lifelong career in the trades and operating several businesses, including Woodstock Dirtworks, I’ve gained a tremendous amount of knowledge I can apply to the management and maintenance of town buildings and our highway, water and sewer infrastructure, as well as extensive knowledge of heavy equipment and heavy vehicles, which our highway department relies upon to maintain our highways and infrastructure.”

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Marcel is a self-employed excavation contractor. He has managed property at the nonprofit Byrdcliffe Art Colony and operated several businesses, including Woodstock Dirtworks.

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Marcel previously sought the Democratic nomination in 2025 but did not win.

As of October 22, 2026, Marcel Nagele’s website did not contain information on this issue.

Economy

Commits to reinstating professionally operated Environmental and Human Rights Commissions as advisory bodies.

Based on all the lessons I’ve learned, I dedicate myself to bringing integrity, transparency, hard work and civility to my position on the Town Board. Specifically, I commit to the following efforts: 1. Reinstitute professionally operating Environmental and Human Rights Commissions, advisory bodies that would speak to power rather than collaborate with it. 2. Require enforcement of our zoning and solid waste laws, and move toward remediation of the Shady Dump through the necessary enforcement of the law, assuring that the cost will ultimately be paid by the property owner.

Said town board meetings should include discussion of issues rather than serve only as formal approval sessions.

Nagele equates not having discussions of the issues in front of the public with censorship. “The purpose of the board meeting is to have the discussion, not just the formal rubber-stamp thing,” he said. “With the Shady dump, I’d be sitting at that table and saying, well, the consultant’s report is right here. And they’ve identified this. I’ve got consultant reports from five consultants. They’re all in agreement.”

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Public Services

Says housing built on town parking lots must provide accessible replacement parking and raises soil-condition concerns about the Mountain View parking lot.

Marcel Nagele: “Affordable housing, I believe, is in fact the most difficult problem for our community to solve. This is extremely problematic not only from a construction cost perspective but also in selecting an appropriate location in our town,” Nagele said. “The business district already does not have enough parking, and some businesses have paid parking in lieu of fees toward parking lot maintenance and creation of additional parking as required by our zoning law when they were unable to meet on-site parking requirements of their ventures. If the town is going to utilize the parking lot for housing, it must be diligent in providing accessible parking elsewhere as necessary to meet parking needs. I believe the Mountain View parking lot will prove to be problematic for building construction because it was a wetland prior to being filled in and expanded years ago and likely has poor soil conditions.”

Housing & Urban Development

Calls for safe, adequate access roads to development sites to protect residents and emergency personnel.

Marcel Nagele: “Not only am I greatly concerned for the environment in general, I’m also greatly concerned about potentially large amounts of site work materials being imported from unscrupulous suppliers, which can be extremely problematic if contaminated, as we’ve experienced regarding the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation-shuttered Karolys operations and the Shady contamination issue. We must be diligent in protecting the environment,” Nagele said. “Safe and proper access to the site is also critical. We cannot allow an unsafe or inadequate access road that endangers residents or emergency personnel.”

Public Safety

Calls for efforts to lessen local businesses' financial losses during the Rock City Road-to-Bearsville bridge-replacement project.

Marcel Nagele: “Complete Streets has worked diligently to bring forth an acceptable plan for traffic in the village especially, and they should be commended for their effort. I’ve heard some interesting ideas, including making some streets one-way traffic and changing traffic patterns, adding crosswalks and curb bump-outs, providing added visibility wherever possible, and signage to direct traffic to parking lots so traffic isn’t repeatedly circling through the village looking for parking,” Nagele said. “The road work from Rock City Road toward Bearsville is a huge project encompassing replacement of several bridges. I’m greatly concerned for our local business owners and any financial losses they’ll sustain over the lengthy duration of the project. I believe every effort must be made to lessen the losses for the businesses.”

Transportation & Infrastructure

Proposes remediating contaminated sites, strengthening prevention measures, tracing contamination sources, and taking contaminated municipal wells offline if feasible.

Do you have any solutions for the ongoing contamination of our water supply? Marcel Nagele: “Identifying and remediating all contaminated sites is critical, and stringent preventative measures should be implemented. I also believe the town should engage an environmental professional/hydrologist to possibly conduct source tracing and also determine if we can take the municipal wells that have tested positive for contamination offline and only utilize the wells that have not tested positive for contamination.”

Commits to enforcing zoning and solid-waste laws and pursuing Shady Dump remediation, with costs ultimately paid by the property owner.

Specifically, I commit to the following efforts: 1. Reinstitute professionally operating Environmental and Human Rights Commissions, advisory bodies that would speak to power rather than collaborate with it. 2. Require enforcement of our zoning and solid waste laws, and move toward remediation of the Shady Dump through the necessary enforcement of the law, assuring that the cost will ultimately be paid by the property owner. 3. Establish a fully independent and professional quarterly municipal water testing plan and implement a professionally-advised source tracing plan to determine where the PFOS or other potential contamination is coming from.

Commits to quarterly independent municipal water testing and a plan, advised by professionals, to trace PFOS and other potential contamination sources.

Specifically, I commit to the following efforts: 2. Require enforcement of our zoning and solid waste laws, and move toward remediation of the Shady Dump through the necessary enforcement of the law, assuring that the cost will ultimately be paid by the property owner. 3. Establish a fully independent and professional quarterly municipal water testing plan and implement a professionally-advised source tracing plan to determine where the PFOS or other potential contamination is coming from. 4. Shed light on how the dissemination and archiving of information is currently handled and offer a much-needed fix to continual problems.