Bridgewater Council Election 2021: Jennifer V. Feigley

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Bridgewater's general election on Nov. 2 has six candidates running for three open seats on the Township Council.

Jennifer Feigley is one of three Democrat candidates running for election. The other candidates include:

• Allen F. Kurdyla - Republican (Incumbent)
• Filipe Pedroso - Republican (Incumbent)
• Howard V. Norgalis - Republican (Incumbent)
• Jill Gladstone - Democrat
• Saad Toor - Democrat

All of the candidates are running for the three, three-year seats on the Township Council.

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

Jennifer Feigley

Name: Jennifer Feigley

Age: 34

Town of residence: Bridgewater

Position sought: Township Council

Party affiliation: Democratic

Family: Husband, Brian Feigley (BRHS class of 1999)

Education: BA in English/Psychology - Monmouth University, MFA Fellowship in Poetry - Charles University in Prague, MBA in Accounting (in progress) Purdue University, Professional Certificate in Risk Management

Occupation: Risk Management, Business Management/Administration, Small Business Owner

Previous or current elected appointed office: N/A

Why are you seeking to run for township committee? I am running for township council because I am proud to live in such a wonderfully diverse town filled with individuals and businesses that make our community so great. I have lived here for five years and I know that I can help to make Bridgewater a better place for everyone. I know that this past year has been tough on all of us. If elected, I plan to fight to help small businesses recover and to help the community as a whole bounce back better than before. My background in Risk Management and Business Management/Administration supplies me with transferable skills that have prepared me well for this role – I have worked extensively in contract negotiations, balancing and maintaining a fiscal budget, creating and implementing company by-laws to mitigate operational and financial risks, leading trainings to ensure employees understand and uphold company policies and managing projects from start to finish. I also have ten years’ experience managing a department and its individual employees. This leadership experience will help me to effectively work with contracted vendors, municipal leaders and residents alike. My combination of experience puts me in a position to work hard for this town. Additionally, as a local entrepreneur and small business owner, I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work on leading Bridgewater on the path to recovery.

How would you address the overdevelopment in Bridgewater? I would look at any proposed project from several aspects – including effects on traffic, safety, schools, and the environment. I will stand against overdevelopment whenever possible. In my opinion, the Center of Excellence planning has been fraught with issues since it was first proposed and had I been on the council, I would have insisted on a deeper discussion about the ramifications of this project. This is an area where we desperately need more diverse representation so that creativity and different views can come to the table and make the best decisions for projects that will have longstanding impacts on the future of our community and the legacy we will hand down to future generations.

Roads are a major issue in town, how do you plan to tackle this? I believe there are smarter ways to obtain savings from other parts of the budget in order to prevent continued borrowing and still enable us to maintain our roads in a timely matter. I would also invite residents to submit photos and concerns they have about their neighborhoods and use these, in addition to the data already collected by the town, to ensure the roads are worked on in an order that makes sense for everyone. I also believe that drastic cuts to our public works department in 2020 had a huge effect on our town that we all felt during our last snowstorm. I would work to restore some of these jobs and cut other extraneous positions as necessary.

What other issues do you feel must be tackled in town?

1. Government transparency – If elected, I would ensure our municipal government was as transparent with residents as possible. I would make minutes from the Council, planning and zoning boards easily accessible to all residents so that those with concerns felt like they had the time and knowledge to properly express any questions or issues they may have with new town business. Community involvement is essential to these processes and without transparency, the community has little ability to be involved and informed. Additionally, I feel that our municipal government could have done a much better job with disseminating COVID information and best practices in 2020. Personally, I relied heavily on the more detailed information published by the county and/or neighboring towns which should not be the case.
2. Community outreach – In my opinion, our municipal government as a whole could do a better job of reaching out to the whole community, especially in situations like the ongoing pandemic of this past year or the recent damage done by Hurricane Ida in our area. In terms of the storm, I helped numerous residents clean up the damage the storm left in its wake and helped connect them to FEMA, The Volunteer Squad and various other local resources. I went back to visit many of these residents in the Finderne section of town and was shocked to learn that in many cases, no one from the municipal government reached out to them to see how they were doing or what help they may have needed at any point. This is unacceptable to me and it shows a clear lack of an empathic and human response to very real crises facing our township. This means more than a few posts on Facebook or the township website. Not every resident utilizes social media. I believe our officials could have done more, for both local businesses and residents, to keep us apprised of information relating to both the pandemic and response to the devastating storm. In terms of the pandemic’s effect on our local businesses, other local municipalities held workshops to help local business owners apply for PPP loans and other need-based grants for businesses. Conversely, during this same time period, our municipal government chose to leave the Somerset County Business Partnership and did not take advantage of the valuable resources available to local business owners. I have also seen municipal governments that took a bigger role in helping residents locate and receive vaccinations and/or clear directions on how to receive said vaccinations months ago. I was very proud to help Bridgewater residents do so via the Vaccine Angels but ideally, it shouldn’t have been necessary for us to do so. Local government officials should have stepped up to help so that a group of local volunteers did not have to fill this void. If elected, I would do more to reach out to residents about pressing issues, ensuring all are informed and able to obtain the help and resources they need. I would also make myself more accessible to all residents to answer questions and listen to feedback – whether via email, phone or social media.

What sets you apart from the incumbent Republicans? I believe that a municipal organization having only one point of view isn’t truly representative of the community and does a disservice to the township as a whole. Our town is beautifully diverse – we represent all ages, all races and all socio-economic backgrounds. We deserve to have a municipal government that truly represents all of us. In my opinion, the best ideas come from collaboration; it is impossible to collaborate when the current council offers no dissenting views and simply rubber stamps agendas handed down from the mayor with little discussion and no disagreement.

Another thing that sets me apart is that I represent a different and continuously growing demographic in Bridgewater – young professionals. I believe that in the past five years, I have done everything I can to be a good and empathetic neighbor. I have strived to help as many neighbors and local workers as possible during the pandemic this past year – by distributing masks for local UPS/USPS and retail workers via The Mask Squad, booking vaccines for many residents in need with the Vaccine Angels and participating in various other local charities and community events. The Vaccine Angels were recently recognized for our work by the Governor. Through organization and hard work, we were able to book over 2,000 vaccines for area seniors and teachers. Protecting our most valuable residents means that our township is that much closer to the full reopening that our local economy desperately needs.

What else would you like to share about yourself or your campaign? I am never shy about standing up for who and what I believe in. I believe in fair play and fair treatment for everyone, municipal government transparency, fiscal responsibility, real governmental oversight and giving a voice to the voiceless. If elected, I promise to stand against corruption and cronyism in the same way that I stand up for everything else I believe in – passionately, based on logic, fairness, and facts. The One Bridgewater team is so dedicated to getting Bridgewater back on track after the last few years that we have promised to take $1 in lieu of a salary as well as to forego all tax payer funded health benefits.

My running mates Jill Gladstone, Saad Toor and I believe that we are well equipped to bring unity back to Bridgewater and integrity back into our municipal government. We will fight for all citizens’ best interests. Please visit our website, www.OneBridgewater.org to learn more about our campaign. You can also follow my campaign on Instagram - @Feigley4Council or email me with any questions you may have at Feigley4Council@gmail.com.