Marcel Nagele
Challenger Marcel Nagele is running as a Democratic for Woodstock Town Board in Woodstock, New York. The election was held on June 24, 2025.
I was raised in West Hurley, in a working-class family with five children. Dad was a factory worker, who suffered several heart attacks and was forced to go on permanent disability when I was in my mid-teens. Mom worked as a personal care assistant for elderly people, one of whom became a mentor to me. From sixteen, when I began helping him after school and on Saturdays, to my mid twenties, when, after he had gone blind, I had become his eyes, driving him and handling his affairs, we had developed such a bond of trust that he gave me his full power of attorney. From these people, I learned the lessons of personal integrity and commitment to helping people.
My introduction to Woodstock was through working for what’s now the Byrdcliffe Guild, where I became the Property Manager. I’ve also started my own businesses, including other property management, tree service and snowplowing businesses, and the trucking, excavation and grading company now known as Woodstock Dirtworks LLC. From these ventures, I learned the lessons of hard work and ethical leadership.
I became involved in civic action over the construction of the Selina Hotel, which, beyond being a problem for my community and its environment, was, I discovered, an illegal site development. Since it was in violation of Town zoning laws, I thought a simple phone call would solve the issue. But the misinformation and avoidance I experienced from Supervisor McKenna, whom I knew little of at the time, forced me and an associate to have to spend more than twenty-five thousand dollars to finally get it shut down. From this experience, I learned the lessons about how things go down in Woodstock and how important public awareness and due diligence are. I would go on to apply these lessons when I got involved in the Shady Dump scandal, where the victims of the illegal dumping faced the same pattern of misinformation and avoidance by the Town Board that I had, and were essentially bankrupted by trying to get the Town to simply enforce its own laws.
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.
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.
5. Work to institute necessary policy changes regarding personnel issues to assure a discrimination and harassment free workplace, and establish a designated protocol for proper independent investigations of all allegations of abuse of policy.
6. Institute a new, fair and proper employee performance review program to assure efficiency in our workforce.
7. Be a strong, unyielding voice in representing all Woodstockers, especially the most needy and vulnerable among us.
In my life, I’ve worked with and built relationships with people of all backgrounds and social status. I can relate to the challenges any of you may be going through, and will always be approachable, empathetic, and responsive. I’m a problem solver, and I’m committed to doing the work to heal divisions, restore trust, and put the Town we love back on the right course.
My introduction to Woodstock was through working for what’s now the Byrdcliffe Guild, where I became the Property Manager. I’ve also started my own businesses, including other property management, tree service and snowplowing businesses, and the trucking, excavation and grading company now known as Woodstock Dirtworks LLC. From these ventures, I learned the lessons of hard work and ethical leadership.
I became involved in civic action over the construction of the Selina Hotel, which, beyond being a problem for my community and its environment, was, I discovered, an illegal site development. Since it was in violation of Town zoning laws, I thought a simple phone call would solve the issue. But the misinformation and avoidance I experienced from Supervisor McKenna, whom I knew little of at the time, forced me and an associate to have to spend more than twenty-five thousand dollars to finally get it shut down. From this experience, I learned the lessons about how things go down in Woodstock and how important public awareness and due diligence are. I would go on to apply these lessons when I got involved in the Shady Dump scandal, where the victims of the illegal dumping faced the same pattern of misinformation and avoidance by the Town Board that I had, and were essentially bankrupted by trying to get the Town to simply enforce its own laws.
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.
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.
5. Work to institute necessary policy changes regarding personnel issues to assure a discrimination and harassment free workplace, and establish a designated protocol for proper independent investigations of all allegations of abuse of policy.
6. Institute a new, fair and proper employee performance review program to assure efficiency in our workforce.
7. Be a strong, unyielding voice in representing all Woodstockers, especially the most needy and vulnerable among us.
In my life, I’ve worked with and built relationships with people of all backgrounds and social status. I can relate to the challenges any of you may be going through, and will always be approachable, empathetic, and responsive. I’m a problem solver, and I’m committed to doing the work to heal divisions, restore trust, and put the Town we love back on the right course.
