Ellen Barnes is running for re-election for Lakewood Village Board.

Barnes is the longest serving trustee on the current board. Appointed to fill a vacant trustee seat in June 2015 by former Lakewood Mayor David Wordelmann, Barnes was elected to that seat to serve in November 2015.

She has been a resident of Lakewood for 30 years, moving to Lakewood in 1988 to accept a position with the Lakewood-Busti Police Department. She served the community in that capacity for 25 years, retiring in 2013. Barnes grew up in Silver Creek in northern Chautauqua County and refers to Lakewood as her “adopted hometown.”

As trustee, Barnes has served on the Highway, Building, Public Safety and Audit committees. She said the Highway Department, Fire Department and Police Department are outstanding and indispensable assets to Lakewood and that she will continue to work to make sure the necessary services have the resources they need. Maintaining and upgrading Lakewood’s infrastructure, preserving Lakewood’s historic buildings and public safety are Barnes’ priorities because they are necessary to keep Lakewood the type of community where families want to live and businesses want to open.

Chautauqua Lake is a primary focus for Barnes. The health of the lake and its usability are directly linked to the growth and prosperity of Lakewood and Chautauqua County. She is committed to keep working with the other lakeside municipalities, the county and lake agencies to keep the lake viable.

Barnes said she is committed to lowering taxes and using common sense to grow Lakewood into the future. She is also committed to working with prospective and established businesses.

For villages like Lakewood to thrive in the current economic conditions of our state, we must be resourceful and embrace prospective and current businesses,” Barnes said.

Barnes said she is currently working with Chautauqua Mall for ways the village can assist it as it progresses into the future.

Barnes graduated from the State University at Fredonia with a Bachelor of Science degree. She graduated from the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Academy and worked for the Lakewood-Busti Police Department for 25 years. During that time Barnes attended many trainings and schools. For 19 years, she taught the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) at Southwestern Central School teaching fifth and seventh grade students about the dangers of drugs, the pitfalls of being enticed to try drugs and mechanisms of coping with pressure to use drugs and ways to say no to those pressures.