Ellen Z. Calves is the current Town Supervisor of Bedford, New York. As Supervisor, she chairs the five-member Town Board, serves as the town's chief elected executive, and represents Bedford in interactions with Westchester County, state agencies, and regional planning bodies. She is a 2026 candidate for re-election to the office, based on public petition records. For her full official profile and Bedford Bee coverage index, see the Ellen Calves town-board profile.
The Supervisor's office sits at the center of the governance questions Bedford residents have raised most persistently in recent years: consultant spending patterns, the pace of progress on the Bedford Hills commercial district, road and infrastructure advocacy, and the town's commitments under regional energy programs. How those issues get framed in a contested 2026 race will reflect directly on her record in office.
The Office
What the Town Supervisor does
The Bedford Town Supervisor is elected at large to a four-year term. The office chairs all Town Board meetings and votes on legislation alongside the four elected Councilmembers. The Supervisor also coordinates with town department heads, signs contracts on behalf of the town, and is the primary point of contact for county and state officials interacting with Bedford government.
Because the Supervisor sets the legislative agenda and leads the public face of town government, the governance culture of any given Town Board period tends to reflect the Supervisor's priorities and style. That includes the pattern of consultant engagements, the approach to transparency and public communication, and the priority given to different issues in the town's annual budget process.
Issue Connections
Issues tied to her tenure
These are issues where the Supervisor's role is direct and where resident attention has been sustained. They are not allegations; they are the open governance questions that a 2026 race will need to address.
- Consultant spending and follow-through: The pattern of consultant use in Bedford during her tenure has produced resident questions about whether study and presentation cycles translate into visible outcomes. The Supervisor's office sets the agenda that determines which studies get commissioned and what happens with their recommendations.
- Bedford Hills commercial district: Multiple rounds of retail revitalization planning for the Bedford Hills business district have occurred without residents seeing a clear accounting of what changed as a result. This is the most visible example of the study-present-file pattern.
- Energy policy and household costs: Bedford's participation in Sustainable Westchester and related programs raises legitimate questions about cost distribution and whether households that don't benefit from the policy assumptions are bearing a disproportionate share of the costs.
- Road conditions and state-highway advocacy: Residents on Route 22, Route 172, and local roads have raised sustained concerns. The state-road jurisdiction is real, but what the Supervisor's office has done to advocate with state and county officials is a fair question for any challenger to raise.
- Electoral competition: The fact that the 2026 race is contested is itself notable given Bedford's recent pattern of limited competition. A contested race means residents will have a real comparison to make.
The 2026 Race
Running for re-election
Ellen Z. Calves has filed in public petition records for the 2026 supervisor race. Incumbents in Bedford have generally had limited opposition in recent cycles; the filing of challenger Don Scott makes this a genuinely contested race by the standards of recent Bedford elections.
This page will be updated as candidate platforms and public positions become available. The Bedford Bee's approach: report what's public, connect it to the record, and keep it useful for voters who want to understand what they're deciding.
See the full race overview for context on the office and the issues likely to shape the campaign.
See Also