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Duke, 64, of 175 Boice Mill Road, Kerhonkson, is a 15-year resident of the town and seeking a third two-year term as supervisor. She has two adult children; is a 1962 graduate of the Lincoln School for girls in Providence, R.I.; earned an associate's degree in liberal arts in 1964 from Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt.; and earned a bachelor's degree in commercial art from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz., in 1974.
Duke is a retired management consultant with the Girl Scouts and continues to work with the organization. She also a lifetime member of the Parent-Teacher Association.
"The biggest thing right now is we adopted the (town) comprehensive plan in 2006, and now we are developing the zoning laws, subdivision laws and the zoning maps to support the comprehensive plan," she said.
"In 1969, they did a comprehensive plan in this town and no one used it," Duke said. "I do not want to see this get put back on the shelf and collect dust. We definitely need to continue with that because it lays the groundwork for direction for the town."
Duke said there will be priorities that come out of the comprehensive plan.
"In the plan ... we have short-term, mid-term and long-term goals," she said. "So my priorities will be those short-term goals, which will be to address the housing issues in town."
Duke said work also needs to continue on developing an inventory of natural resources.
"We have a grant that we just received, and we're going to continue with that," she said. "With historic preservation, we have received a grant to do some work with that, to update our inventory because we have the largest inventory in Ulster County of historic homes."
Duke also said work is nearing completion to update the town's emergency management plan.
"We had an emergency management plan but it wasn't utilized," she said.
Also, Duke said, "we have a public hearing coming up for putting cell towers in the town. One of the biggest things that hit me when I first became supervisor was I didn't have any Internet access. How can I connect? So now, with the cell towers coming in, we're going to be able to have not only good cell service but we'll also have Internet access."
Chipman, 47, of 15 Barry Lane, is a 42-year resident of the town. He and wife Margaret have two teenage children.
Chipman is a general manger of Collier Motor Car Co. in Ellenville; graduated in 1978 from Rondout Valley High School and earned an associate's degree in economics from Ulster County Community College in 1981. He was a Rondout Valley Board of Education member form 1995-99 and its president during the final two years. He is a coach with the Rochester Youth Commission basketball program.
"I really want to work toward zoning codes that are not infringing on individual property rights of our residents," Chipman said.
"I think we need balanced commercial development," he said. "We have to balance commercial development with ... residential development in order to keep taxes low in our town."
Chipman also said there have been consistent violations in Rochester of the state Open Meetings Law, including a Town Board session where an overflow crowd was locked out of the Town Hall when capacity was reached.
"When in doubt, I will be calling the (state) Committee on Open Government to follow the guidelines," he said.
"They (Town Board members) do a lot of talking in executive session," Chipman said. "I've never seen a government use executive session like these guys do."
Chipman also would like to change the town budget process to accommodate more public comment.
"One thing that I am proposing is that we have a budget review committee ... (with) regular citizens where budgeting is open," he said. "In January 2006, the current supervisor found $60,000 in the budget for a consultant for the comprehensive plan. I don't want to see any money being found, because when you find something, it means you lost it or you tucked it away."
