By Staff

Sep. 2, 2020 (updated Sept. 14, 2020): On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, Bronxville residents will have the opportunity to vote for three Village Trustees and one Village Justice. 

The Bronxville Village Elections were originally scheduled for March 18. Due to COVID-19, Governor Cuomo rescheduled Village Elections to April 28. Then, they were again rescheduled to September 15, 2020.  The third time's the charm!  

Below is your guide to the candidates and voting locations.

SUMMARY INFORMATION ABOUT CANDIDATES

Candidates for Village Justice - Term 4 Years (Pick 1)

George Mayer (R), incumbent

Natasha Nordahl (D)

Candidates for Village Trustees - Term 2 Years (Pick 2)

Mary Taylor Behrens (D)

Helen Knapp (R)

Candidate for Village Trustee - Unexpired Term until March 30, 2021

Bill Fredericks (D) 

Note:  Bill Fredericks is filling the unexpired term of Mark Wood (R), who has moved out of the village. Since this is a recent development, Fredericks' name will not appear on the ballot.  To vote for Fredericks, you will need to write-in his name.

VOTING LOCATIONS

The County Board of Elections will be conducting the Village Election from 6 AM to 9 PM and below are the polling locations:

• Village Hall (200 Pondfield Road):  Districts 16 & 17
• Fire Station (Corner of Midland Avenue and Palumbo Place): Districts 18, 19, & 21
• Christ Church: District 20 and 22

DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT EACH CANDIDATE

George Mayer, Candidate For Village Justice

George R. Mayer became Bronxville Village Justice in 2004. He is one of two Bronxville Justices who share the duties of the Bronxville Justice Court.

Mayer is running for another four-year term.

Mayer graduated from the University of Denver and New York Law School. He was a Senior Prosecutor in the D.A.'s Office, a Criminal Defense Attorney, and a Civil Litigator.

As an attorney, Mayer has had a wide variety of Civil and Criminal Cases. His experience is in the State and Federal Courts and includes a large number of cases such as those handled in the Lower Courts.

In addition to being the Bronxville Village Justice, Mayer was an Administrative Law Judge in NYC, Acting City Court Judge in Yonkers and Mount Vernon and Acting Village Court Judge in Tuckahoe.

Mayer and his wife have lived in Bronxville for 42 years. His two sons attended the Bronxville School. During those years, he was very involved with the Bronxville School, serving as Class Parent, Chairman of the Memorial Day Committee, and President of the Bronxville PTA.

He was also Co-Founder of the Bronxville School Ski Team and the Family Ski Trip, Coach of the Bronxville Mock Court Team, and Coach of the Eastchester Youth Soccer Program.

Over the years, Mayer has also been very involved in the community. He served as Village Prosecutor from 1989-2004, Fire Commissioner from 2001-2004, and Village Judge from 2004 to the Present.

He has also served as a volunteer for Senior Citizens and Jansen Hospice. 

Mayer says that "he has always decided cases in a fair, impartial and compassionate manner" and "his experience makes him the most qualified candidate."

Natasha Nordahl, Candidate for Village Justice

 

Natasha Nordahl grew up in Brooklyn Heights and graduated first in her class from Packer Collegiate Institute. She went on to Duke University and Brooklyn Law School.

After law school, Nordahl worked for over 20 years representing corporations and insurance companies as a litigator in both trial and appellate courts in New York State.

In addition to her professional legal career, Nordahl has actively served the broader Westchester legal community. She is a member of the Judicial Selection Committee, which evaluates the fitness of retired Supreme Court Justices to serve as Judicial Hearing Officers. She is an active volunteer for CLARO (Civil Legal Action and Resource Office), in which she assists low-income litigants each week in the Supreme Court, Westchester County. She has also served as a fee dispute arbitrator for the 9th Judicial District. 

Nordahl and her husband Steve have lived in Bronxville since 2002. They have three sons who attended the Bronxville School. One attended K-12, and two attended through 8th grade and went on to the all-boys Salisbury School in Connecticut. 

Nordahl served as secretary for the Bronxville School Middle School Council and member of the Friends of the Bronxville Public Library. She currently serves on the Bronxville Planning Board.

Nordahl is running for Village Justice because, as she says, "we all play a role in making Bronxville a place in which people want to live. I believe my experience professionally and personally, as a mother and as a long-term resident of Bronxville, make me ideally qualified for the position." 

She says that in this role, she will "serve each individual before the court in a fair, respectful and reasoned way," which will "foster the sense of community we all know and love."

Nordahl says she is also running because "I firmly believe that the Village should develop its next generation of leaders," and because she "will bring a fresh perspective, along with the requisite understanding of the Bronxville community today."

Nordahl notes that if elected, it will be historic because she "will be the first woman to hold the position of Village Justice." 

Mary Taylor Behrens, Candidate for Village Trustee, 2-year term

Mary Taylor Behrens moved to Bronxville when she was in fourth grade and has lived here for 35 years.  She graduated from the Bronxville School.  She went onto Georgetown University, where she ran track, becoming captain of the team in her senior year, and graduating with a BA in Government.  

Behrens spent over 20 years in the finance industry in New York City, holding a variety of investment banking positions, including managing director and member of the Executive Committee at Merrill Lynch & Co. She was the most senior woman at Merrill and was running the $360 billion asset management division when she retired. She then served on the board of three pubic healthcare companies.

Behrens' two sons also graduated from the Bronxville School. 

Behrens has served as Chairman of the Bronxville School Foundation, Senior Warden at Christ Church Bronxville, and a member of the board of NewYork Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital.

Behrens is running for Village Trustee because she "is excited to bring my knowledge of Bronxville and strong financial and corporate governance background to the role of Village Trustee. I am excited to give back to the Bronxville community in a new and meaningful way."

She is also "eager to work with the mayor and the current trustees to preserve all of the wonderful things about the village."

Behrens sees one of the village's challenges as "maintaining and improving our business district and keeping our community attractive to newcomers despite the loss of the state and local tax deductions."

Helen Knapp, Candidate for Village Trustee, 2-year term

Helen Knapp was born in Bronxville and attended the Bronxville School K-12. After graduation, she went on to the University of Virginia and then to The John Hopkins University, where she obtained an MA in International Relations. 

Knapp spent almost 15 years with Citicorp first working in corporate finance and then in international private wealth management. She then worked for a NY-based global not-for-profit, developing partnerships between private philanthropists, governments and businesses to create long-term solutions to poverty, social inequality in developing countries. 

Knapp and her husband, Charles, moved to Bronxville in 2002 to raise their family. They have two daughters who attended the Bronxville School; one is graduating this year.

Knapp has been involved with the Bronxville School, serving on numerous committees and as President of the Bronxville School PTA. She has also been a member of the Bronxville Non-Partisan Committee.

Knapp also served as a Governor of the Bronxville Field Club for six years. She was also an alternate on the Village Planning Board for two years and worked as a guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Knapp sees taxes as a challenge for the village going forward and feels the Trustees should work "to ensure that those taxes that the board can actually control - our village taxes- are kept as low as possible, while at the same time maintaining the level of services village residents expect and addressing our aging infrastructure before costly emergencies arise."  

Knapp also wants to work to maintain and enhance open spaces, natural landscape and "walkability" in Bronxville.

Bill Fredericks, Candidate for Interim Trustee,  Unexpired Term until March 30, 2021

 

Bill Fredericks is running to fill the unexpired term of former Village Trustee Mark Wood. Wood recently stepped down from this role because he and his wife are moving away from Bronxville. 

Bill Fredericks grew up in Bronxville and attended the Bronxville School for nine years. After graduating from Swarthmore College and Columbia Law School and clerking for a federal judge, he has spent the last 30 years practicing securities and commercial litigation in New York, where he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants.

He returned to Bronxville in 1997 with his wife Ivy, and children Charlotte and Thomas.  

Fredericks has served as a longtime member and chair of the Village’s Zoning Board  and as also served as the treasurer of the Bronxville-Tuckahoe-Eastchester Nature Preserve, and has recently joined the board of the Bronxville Historical Conservancy.  

If elected, he says he will do his best "to give a fair hearing to all points of view, to work with the other trustees to build consensus when possible, and to pursue the fair, just, and efficient administration of Village affairs. "

Photo at top by A. Warner