Bernards Township Committee Election 2024: Jennifer Asay

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Bernards Township's general election on Nov. 5 has four candidates running for two open seats for the Township Committee.

Incumbent Republican Jennifer Asay is running along with Andrew McNally against DemocratsAdam N. Subervi and Elizabeth Graner.

Are you running for office in Basking Ridge? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Basking Ridge Patch.

Jennifer Asay

• Age: 53
• Town of residence: Bernards Township
• Position sought: Township Committeeperson
• Party Affiliation: Republican
• Family: Derek Asay – Spouse (married nearly 31 years); Children: Regan Asay - 27, Brett Asay - 24, Elise Asay - 12, Drew Asay - 10. My older children graduated from Ridge High School in 2015 and 2018. My younger children attend William Annin Middle School (7th grade) and Oak Street School (5th grade). Our family is proud to represent adoptive families.
• Education: As the first person in my family to graduate from college, I earned my Bachelors of Science Degree in Pharmacy. I also earned an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
• Occupation: I am a licensed pharmacist who has dedicated her professional career in the biopharmaceutical industry to help patients. My career consists of increasing leadership roles via cross-functional and multi-therapeutic roles within large and small companies. For more details, visit her LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/jasay
• Previous elected/appointed office:
  • Current
    • Mayor, Bernards Township January - December 2024
    • Bernards Township Board of Health, 2012 to present
  • Previous
    • Deputy Mayor January -December 2023 · Township Committeeperson January – December 2022
      • Bernards Township Planning Board (2018 to 2021). Vice Chairwoman
  • Campaign website: asaymcnally.com, facebook.com/ForBernardsForYou

Why are you seeking election for Township Committee?

I want to ensure the quality of life our residents enjoy is maintained and that Bernards Township remains rated as one of the safest and “Best Places to Live” in the United States for all our residents.

I love helping others and have truly enjoyed creating programs that help others. I would like to continue programs/initiatives I have started (i.e. Fabric of Bernards, Understanding Bernards, Townwide Yard Sale, etc.) and create new ones as new needs arise (i.e. Enable film production within town to create a new revenue stream, Youth and technology community actions, Food drive for local food pantry, 5K to support special needs population). Since joining the Township Committee, I have sought to increase the education and awareness of the role and responsibilities of local government via the Understanding Bernards presentation series the past 3 years. I think it is critically important for residents to be fully informed on these topics especially to protect against misinformation sharing.

Most importantly, I would like to continue to work to address public safety concerns to affect the state policies that need to be revised (i.e. bail reform) and to implement the affordable housing plan we are developing in 2024 to avoid overdevelopment caused by Trenton’s mandated affordable housing obligations that will be communicated to NJ towns in October 2024.

There has been an increase in home and vehicle burglaries in the township, do you think enough has been done to combat this? What else would you propose to address this issue?

As soon as I was sworn-in as Mayor on Jan. 2, I immediately engaged with concerned residents and victims of these crimes and attempted crimes, as well as the police chief, federal and state officials, and other Mayors. At every Township Committee meeting I have provided an update on the topic of public safety and created a summary of actions taken and published in both editions of the Bernards Buzz, and located on our township website at bernards.org. I have ensured that locally, Bernards Township is optimized regarding public safety, encouraged our surrounding towns to do the same, and now continue to work with other Mayors in the state to find support for legislative solutions at the state level that will stop the increase in crime our state has seen.

While I provide this thorough listing below, documenting the hours I have poured into this issue, and will continue to do so, I’ve learned that the source of the public safety issue is actually Trenton policies, driven by the political power in the majority who in turn appoint the people who are supposed to prosecute criminals. I’m proud of the extensive actions we have taken to ensure that Bernards Township has optimized public safety to protect residents, but these threats will remain until State elected officials, including the Governor, State Senators, and State Assembly people pass legislation that protects residents instead of criminals. Our residents are tired of learning that when an arrest IS made, the criminals aren’t able to be held but instead released, one of the reasons why the Somerset jail is operating on a limited basis due to the lack of inmates – not because crime has stopped, but because current state politicians refuse to create legislation where criminals are held accountable for their actions.

In the Bernards Buzz, my Mayoral review hosted on the town’s website, I included links to the news articles generated on this topic.

Actions taken since January 2nd, 2024:

• Participated in/Conducted over 20 safety presentations with and without the police department.
• Held over 50 safety conversations with concerned residents individually and in groups.
• Held a Safety Town Hall via Zoom with Senator Bramnick in January.
• Participated in the Somerset Hills Mayors Safety Committee (since February).
• Filmed multiple safety-related videos and released them.
• Was an invited speaker in Congressman Kean’s Safety Roundtable in February.
• Hosted the 2.5 hour Understanding Bernards Police presentation regarding safety that was recorded and currently has over 250 views.
• Led the introduction and successfully approved the Resident Protection Ordinance to address home burglaries and car thefts.
• Created and kicked off the Conference of Mayors Car Theft task force.
• Developed and passed a budget themed "safety investments," including the acquisition of new technologies and hiring two additional police officers.
• Worked together with Somerset Hills towns to adopt the same Resident Protection ordinance and issued a joint press release in June.
• All Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) were installed and operational.
• Hired two additional police officers increasing headcount to 40.

The RESULTS of these investments & the efforts of our BTPD are clear. In July, the Somerset County Prosecutor McDonald commended an investigation and arrests made by the Bernards Township Police Department (BTPD) and stated: “This is an excellent example of collaboration, coordination, and persistence shown by Bernards Township officers daily to keep the township safe. Also, investments in public safety technology authorized by Bernards Township Mayor Jennifer Asay and the Township Committee contributed to the ability of the police department to apprehend these criminals targeting the township.”

Here is a listing of the recent successes as documented by news articles by our BTPD:

• Home burglaries associated with the South American Theft Group. May 21, 2024.
• Motor vehicle burglaries in parks, including Mountain Park.
• Home burglaries and associated car thefts. August 3, 2024

I want to remind residents that while our town has been targeted this year episodically by criminals who travel from other counties and even states, our town was recognized in March 2024 by Safewise as New Jersey’s Second Safest City. Our community and Township Committee support and celebrate the excellence of the Bernard Township Police Department and are grateful for their tireless efforts to protect us 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days per year. Crime will never be fully eradicated, as it never has, but we are proud of the active measures we have taken and fully support our Police Department and its leadership.

Manufacturing and/or warehouse applications are still cropping up. How do you feel about these applications and their impact on the township?

Because I received multiple questions from Hills residents on this topic when I presented at the HHMA Board of Trustees Meeting on May 14, I requested the Township Attorney to draft an official public statement that was shared with their leadership for dissemination with the community. To ensure this information was shared with the entire town, I requested our Township Attorney, Mr. John Belardo, to read this official statement on the record at the June 25 Township Committee meeting. The Statement By Bernards Township Attorney John P. Belardo - Signature Acquisitions, LLC Application to Zoning Board of Adjustment Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan with “D” and “C” Variance Relief Block 11201, Lots 2 & 3 – 150 Allen Road Bernards Township, NJ 07920 is documented in the June 25 meeting minutes and in the Township Committee meeting recording on Youtube. In short, NJ law prohibits Township Committee governing body members from any participation or involvement whatsoever with Zoning Board of Adjustment applications or hearings therefore we are unable to comment on this topic.

Affordable housing. How do you feel about this state mandate and its impact on Bernards Township?

At the Township Committee Meeting on Feb. 13, we passed Resolution #2024-0148 - Resolution Of The Township of Bernards, County Of Somerset, Opposing Assembly Bill No. 4/Senate Bill No. 50, Which Proposes To Overhaul The Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) In A Way That Imposes Unrealistic Obligations With Unrealistic Deadlines Based Upon Onerous Standards. The detailed discussion can be found in the official recorded minutes as well as the Youtube video. I added this resolution to the meeting agenda and started updating residents beginning at this meeting and subsequent meetings with remarks on this topic that can be seen via the Township Committee recordings.

As I shared at this meeting, overdevelopment driven by Trenton’s mandate of Affordable Housing is a concern for Bernards Township, as well most municipalities in NJ. Trenton’s demands do not consider local impact, like impact on infrastructure, school population, town finances, emergency services, environmental impact, or even availability of buildable land. We do not oppose Affordable Housing: We oppose the overdevelopment that is triggered by the process.

Since December, we closely watched the quiet Trenton rewriting of the Affordable Housing process that culminated in a new process finalized in record time, voted and passed along party lines when the Governor signed and announced the new law in March. "One of our Administration’s top priorities has been to establish New Jersey as a national leader in expanding affordable housing," said Governor Murphy via a March 20 press release. Ironically forcing municipalities to build high density housing in communities where limited buildable land exists is in direct opposition to State DEP required Storm Water management directives that try to address the increased issues of flooding that we’ve seen in the recent years.

Regardless, Bernards Township will be given its required number of affordable housing units from Trenton on October 20, if the state adheres to the timeline communicated. We have NOT waited. Proactively, we hired one of the best expert planners with extensive Mount Laurel expertise before the state law was finalized. As I communicated in the most recent Bernards Buzz, I shared the actions we have taken. Additionally, we have conducted a thorough review of historical actions, review of the new law, and began scenario planning. In the spirit of transparency, we hosted the Understanding Bernards presentation in June: Understanding Affordable Housing Efforts: Past, Present and Future to educate residents about this new law and process. This video has over 300 views and is the most watched of the program series. Scenario planning has continued as we wait for our obligation number (e.g. the number of housing units) we will be given from the state’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA).

It was made clear to me by experts across the state that I nor our Township Committee could not stop this Trenton-mandated process that will force us, as most municipalities, to revise our zoning to include high density housing as part of our State mandated Round 4 obligations. As such, I have sought to mitigate the negative impact of this State Mandate. In summary, Bernards Township will comply with the State law, however we will build the fewest “new” units to limit the negative impact this new law could have. The state law requires specific types of housing we must include, but we will ensure that we will build what our community actually needs, specifically housing for senior citizens and adults with special needs.

As I have stated since February, we will be as transparent as possible with our residents regarding this process, balancing communication releases that could potentially be used against the town.

What other issues do you feel need to be tackled in the township?

While I know things are going well, I also look to see what can be done better. These areas include educating residents about local government and what they should expect in return for their taxes, celebrating the rich diversity within our community, continued economic development opportunities to lessen pressure on resident and business owner taxpayers, continued support to our small and local businesses, and increasing community engagement.

In 2021, I launched the Understanding Bernards educational presentation series whereby leadership of key local government departments present what their department does for residents and answer their questions. These presentations have included the following departments: Finance (taxes), Police Department, Department of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, and the Health Department. All presentations have been recorded and are located on bernards.org under “Understanding Bernards.” These presentations have been well-received and are valuable resources to our residents.

In February of 2021, we held the first Fabric of Bernards event, a Lunar New Year celebration, in our Town Hall. This kicked off a wonderful celebration of cultures and heritages of residents living in our community. We say in Bernards Township “Every resident is a thread, woven together into the strong and unique fabric of Bernards." Since that first event, we have held many programs that have included programs highlighting our Chinese and Indian communities, senior citizens, business owners, women, and veterans, to name a few. Please visit the Fabric of Bernards webpage for a full-listing of programs and celebrations conducted.

This year I have sought new revenue streams to the Township to take pressure off resident and business tax payers. After learning about the economic benefits related to film production, I completed the following actions:

• Attended “How to become a Film Ready Community” workshop in April
• Hosted professional photographers (provided free) and our county liaison on two days to take photos of 29 shooting locations in the Township & uploaded them to the Film Location Library
• Designated a Film Ready Liaison
• Working with the BRBA, I submitted a list of local businesses who could support production needs (i.e. catering)
• The Township Committee introduced in May and adopted a Film Production Ordinance in June that enables film production
• We invited residents/business owners to submit photos of their property to the Film Location Library.
• I attended a Film Industry Networking Session in September

In addition to pursuing film production, we actively pursued a large federal grant to benefit our Police Department and first responders. Congressman Tom Kean selected our grant proposal to be one of 15 submissions for Federal Community Project Funding requests submitted to the House Appropriations Committee for consideration for FY2025. If granted, $1.6 Million dollars will be put to use in Bernards Township for the benefit of public safety.

As I have worked with the Basking Ridge Business Alliance, I have learned more about their needs and have committed to providing education to benefit all local and small businesses. For example, in April we collaborated with the BRBA and the Somerset County EDA to host Kathy Guzman, the Small Business Liaison from the NJEDA, to learn more about state resources and grants. For this information and her presentation, please visit the Fabric of Bernards page on bernards.org. I have literally gone “door-to-door” to over 100 businesses to share about the available state grants. I have attended BRBA meetings and networking events to share state grant information. We are working closely with the BRBA to plan multiple initiatives that will benefit local businesses, including an upcoming Food Drive for our local food pantry, God’s Coop Food Pantry. I am also working closely with the State and Somerset County EDA to host a Business Certification Workshop occurring on Oct. 8.

This year, we have meaningfully increased community engagement via the continuation of key town events, the creation of new town events, the publicity of partner organization events, and presentations at Township Committee meetings. This year we have executed a large list of accomplishments which can be found in both editions of the Bernards Buzz under Community Engagement. Supporting local organizations and businesses, celebrating cultural diversity and the environment, honoring heroes, and celebrating residents are the major categories. In addition to the “traditional” events, such as the Lunar New year celebration, Charter Day, the Memorial Day Parade, and the Mayor's Golf Classic, new events this year included ISBR Events such as the Crescent Lighting & Interfaith Iftar Dinner, a Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies for our town’s food pantry, the Spring Townwide “Green” Yard Sale, and the moving Captain Ford Shaw Way Road Dedication to name a few.

What sets you apart from the challenging candidates?

Simply put: Experience. Committeeman Andrew McNally and I are running as a team. He served as Mayor in 2023 while I am currently serving as Mayor. Our actions and our words over the past 3 years demonstrate that we have the leadership experience and actual expertise to continue Bernard’s efficient, responsive, transparent, and community-focused government. I hope residents agree with the objectively-awarded accolades that have been given to our town so far this year: Second Safest Town in New Jersey – Safewise, Mayors Wellness Campaign: 2023 Town Up and Coming, and Fourth Hottest Real Estate Market in the US. I hope we can all agree that we live together in a great place and that things are going well. We hope that everyone has seen that locally, we listen to all voices and take action to address issues that arise. With the upcoming critical work related to affordable housing and its risk of overdevelopment, we want to implement the strategies we are developing to protect our community. We also want to ensure Public Safety remains the prioritization it deserves and that I continue work to try to affect the state-level policies that negatively impact us. We want to continue this good work and can only continue if we are reelected to do so. In short, if you like what you have seen over the past 3 years, please vote for us so we can continue to serve you.

Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself or your campaign?

Most residents don’t realize that Bernards Township is one of only a few municipalities in the state that is debt-free. This means that your tax dollars are not wasted on paying interest on borrowing for programs or services. Regarding your local tax dollar, 66% is given to the Board of Education, 17% is sent to the County, 2% is statutorily required for the library, and the town is completely run on the final 15%. We are committed to prudent fiscally conservative government and keeping our town 100% debt-free. Our governing philosophy is careful spending and following a “pay-as-you-go” approach to expenditures. This requires careful, thoughtful strategic planning with time horizons of 5 years so we ensure we know the town's needs and priorities and plan well in advance for them. We are also committed to exploring new revenue streams and ways to efficiently reduce government spending without sacrificing the high quality of municipal services our residents have come to expect and are entitled to.

It is noteworthy that Andrew and I have a long history of community service and are currently actively involved with various boards and commissions serving the public. Personally, besides government-related organizations, I have served and continue to serve community organizations for years, like Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, PTOs, coaching recreational basketball, local running groups, the new middle school ski club etc. Because of my many years of service, I’ve had the privilege to meet and work with many wonderful people in our community. I am known in our town by the many hats I wear: Mom, Coach, Cookie Mom, Cub scout uniform organizer, etc.

We are fiscal conservatives devoted to promoting efficient, responsive, transparent, and community-focused government. We are committed to keeping Bernards Township the safe and welcoming community our residents have chosen to call home. We believe all our residents deserve to be treated equally with respect and dignity.

Andrew and I want all residents and our families to have the same positive experiences we have had living in and raising our families in Bernards Township. Our campaign motto “For Bernards, for You” epitomizes our governing principles.

Please vote for me, Jennifer Asay, and my running mate Andrew McNally for Township Committee.