A veteran of the optical business, Republican town council candidate Georgine Matichuck has a vision for the Town of Wawarsing. A 47-year resident of the town, Matichuck is the manager of the optical shop at Eye Associates in Kingston, a position she formerly held in Ellenville. Having served as a member of the town’s planning board for the last four years, a member of the Revolving Loan Committee, the alternate liaison to the county planning board, and ten years as an EMT with the Ellenville Rescue Squad, Matichuck now believes that her efforts to improve her community would be put to better use as a Town Councilperson.

“Being involved in those things and simply feeling that doing service in your community is essential, that started opening up my thoughts as to how I can give more service to the community,” says Matichuck. “On the planning board, I see a lot of projects come and go — perhaps barely get started — and then watch it fall apart, or projects that don’t even get that opportunity, [like] new businesses, new residential areas that want to come to the community. So with all of those observations I made the decision that my work may be best utilized by coming to the town council.”

Before she had decided to run for the position, Matichuck attended several town council meetings over a period of two years, during which she developed some ideas for how it functions can improve. She’s condensed these ideas down into five bullet points that she’s discussing with town residents during her campaign.

1. Listening
“First of all, the first thing I believe that needs to be done is listening to the needs and concerns of the residents of the Town of Wawarsing… there’s a difference between listening and hearing,” says Matichuck.

2. Long-term Analysis
“The next step being to take those listening skills and examine each issue and how it’s going to benefit all the residents in the community. In that, have a very broad response to that, not to look at issues in a very myopic sense, not a short-term analysis of it, but looking at long-term analysis to determine how it’s going to benefit the Town of Wawarsing.”

3. Full Public Disclosure
“And thirdly, after listening to and examining the issues — and this is something that I feel is very important — is to give full disclosure to the voting public to review. I’ve observed that there are issues that come to the present board that frustrate the community, because, from feedback I’m getting, they feel as though there’s not disclosure to the public.”

4. A Commitment To Youth Involvement
“Another thing that I would like to see happen is to involve our youth in a way that I don’t know that our board ever has, possibly having a youth committee, that would actually work directly with the board. I think our young people really need to be brought into the mechanics of the business of the Town of Wawarsing.”

5. Economic Development
“My last point that I would like to continue to work with that is always determined by our present supervisor, is working with commercial and residential growth.”

Matichuck is banking on her experience in management positions and her time spent on the planning board to help her accomplish her goals with the town council. Some of the projects she’s worked on with the planning board include the upcoming senior housing projects, like Wawarsing Estates, as well as the admittedly slow-going Buddhist Hermitage in Cragsmoor. “The evaluation process is extensive,” concedes Matichuck, adding that the reason for the long process is that “it’s one of the larger projects that is requiring extensive evaluation. I’m hoping that both the planning board as well as the town board will be able to make a good decision; a smart growth decision on that project. That’s a long-term project.”

One of the qualities Matichuck prides herself on is her exemplary attendance record, which she says is of more importance than it would obviously seem. “I do believe that attendance for anyone on these boards, it’s essential to take a look at. You have to be there to make good decisions.”

“I think my experience as a manager for thirty years with a business in the Town of Wawarsing…all those experiences, and being on the planning board and the revolving loan fund, I think I have a good barometer as to what the Town of Wawarsing needs.”