Bridgewater Council Election 2021: Jill Gladstone

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

Jill Gladstone is one of three Democratic candidates running.

The other candidates include:

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

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

Jill Gladstone

Name: Jill Gladstone

Age: 58

Town of residence: Bridgewater

Position sought: Township Council Member

Party affiliation: Democratic

Family: My husband, Cliff Gladstone and I have lived in Bridgewater since 1995. We have three children, Keith (BRHS Class of 2013), Jeff (BRHS Class of 2016) and Evan (BRHS Class of 2021)

Education: Tulane University, Bachelor of Science in Psychology

Occupation: In the past I was an Account Executive at a global industrial packaging company and a regional specialty foods and candy distributor.

Previous or current elected appointed office: Current Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education Member since 2007, including Board President 2017-2020.

Why are you seeking to run for Township Council?

I love Bridgewater. After living here for 26 years and being a dedicated Board of Education member for nearly 14 years, I want to use my experience, energy, and integrity to serve the community on the broader range of issues dealt with by the municipal government. I believe I can help make Bridgewater better. I’m proud of the work I have done on the Board of Education by asking tough questions and providing oversight, always striving to improve our already great school district. Because I have spent half of my time on the Board serving as either President or Vice-President, the community has seen that I am a respected leader as well as a thoughtful public servant with a sensible perspective. I have worked alongside more than 20 other hard-working Board of Education members through the years and know the value of listening and debating all sides of every issue. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in our municipal government. Bridgewater has had one-party rule for literally decades, which has deprived the township of the benefits of full exploration of the issues.

Our community would be best served if we had municipal leaders representing all residents’ voices. Knocking on doors for our campaign reaffirmed something that I had heard in the past. There are many people in certain parts of Bridgewater who said to me, "we’re always the last to get snowplowed" or "they haven’t paved our street in 25 years" or "we’ve been complaining for years that this street light isn’t working" or "they only come around here before elections." Nobody, and I mean nobody, in Bridgewater should have to feel like they’re last to be taken care of. The fact that people in certain neighborhoods feel that way is unacceptable to me. We need empathetic council members who ensure that every resident, regardless of their respective neighborhood, feels valued and well-served by their municipal government.

How would you address the overdevelopment in Bridgewater?

Because our planning and zoning boards are dominated by party loyalists, decisions often favor Republican big-money donors. We need much broader representation from the community when deciding how to control the impact of future projects. For example, a couple of years ago, the school district was denied a seat at the table for discussions about PILOT (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) developments, which would add students with no funds to pay for their education. This is shortsighted. When I was Board of Education President, the Board approved a resolution urging the township to include the district in negotiations when new development may bring an influx of hundreds of students. We must scrutinize plans for any new development to be sure they meet our long term goals and future development plans should include the latest innovations in technology, energy efficiency, and, environmental awareness. We must learn from the tragedy of the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ida and reduce impervious land surfaces (like asphalt/concrete) and modernize our drainage systems. Our economic future and the quality of our governmental services depend on a more balanced, creative approach than has been the case in the past.

Roads are a major issue in town, how do you plan to tackle this?

Roads have been a disaster in Bridgewater for many years. The efforts of the mayor and council, including the three long-time incumbents who are seeking re-election, have been too little, too late. An assessment of the roads in Bridgewater was finally undertaken, but it has taken far too long to address the absolute worst roads. I live near 5 of the 18 township roads that were designated as "disaster roads" after the flooding which required a $1 million emergency repair. Those five roads, with which I am quite familiar, as I am a frequent walker, were already in horrendous shape with severe and deep cracks and potholes even before the storm hit. I’d bet if those roads had been properly maintained and repaved earlier, they wouldn’t have become disaster areas.

Communication from the township regarding closures and detours from road work is often non-existent until community members express rage on social media, and the detours themselves are often illogical. With more of our own DPW workers back on staff they would have the familiarly of the town and traffic patterns to better route and communicate detours. The pothole-filling system has been a failure, resulting in unsafe roads and damaged vehicles. The township should find better methods and materials that will keep potholes filled for more than a few months without leaving loose asphalt everywhere.

Additionally, we need to utilize a live dashboard phone app that would allow residents to report locations of potholes, and also serve to hold the township accountable. For example, the anticipated repair date should be listed by the township as well as the date the repair was completed. I’d like to use the same dashboard tool to report unplowed roads after snowstorms. I will ensure there is accountability on behalf of the township.

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

1. Political cronyism and fiscal management. The current township administration, with the full approval of the council, began its term by filling the highest ranks of township government with political cronies, and even created additional positions for still more political appointees. Here’s just one of many examples: The council voted to water down the long standing qualifications required of a key position (Director of Municipal Services) so they could fill it with a political crony who did not meet the prior qualifications, and then outsourced a degreed engineer whose firm contributes generously to the incumbents’ campaigns and whose firm is awarded many contract. So now we have two men with two salaries doing the job of the former, retired qualified township engineer. Having created many high-salary administrative positions, when financial constraints suddenly arose several months later there was not enough money left to fund some of the positions the township needs, such as some employees in the public works department, code enforcement, and the municipal court. As a result, some of the people who have worked hard for years in our township were laid off. Municipal services have suffered as a result, and this became glaringly obvious this past winter when the township had a delayed reaction to a snowstorm that brought everything to a standstill. Many residents have had to wait months for inspections of their home remodeling projects. I want to restore the positions of those men and women and rid the township of partisan cronies. Upon seeing the township’s 2021 Municipal Budget, one can see that they are using millions of dollars of one-time windfalls to pay for the increased cost of government, but they are silent on a long-term plan for responsible fiscal management. The township continues to ignore its spiraling debt, in contrast to the Board of Education, which has significantly reduced its debt and has continued to maintain a cost per pupil that is a bit below average in our state, according to the NJ Department of Education. This does not reflect proper financial management.
2. Transparency and communication. Transparency and communication from the township are abysmal, which leaves residents feeling disengaged. There should be audio or video recordings of all council meetings posted on the township website. For the last 2 years, the township has failed to publish a directory of staff, boards, and committees. They took about a year to finally post some 2020 Planning and Zoning Board meeting minutes last April. Regarding transparency of COVID-19 reporting, the initial amount of data provided by the township was woefully inadequate and incomplete. It was only after I engaged with the township multiple times starting in April 2020, and continuing for several months, that they finally added age spans. I also asked for more details in their reporting such as positivity rates and hospitalizations, as some other towns publish. I was disappointed in their lack of interest in providing this information so residents can follow our local trends. The Municipal Budget Hearing does not include any kind of visual presentation (PowerPoint) or written explanations of significant changes and does not reflect any desire to engage with the taxpayers. The township does not list salaries on all resolutions to approve new hires or annual reappointments of personnel, as the school district does, nor does it disclose whether there are stipends paid to employees and contractors who are appointed to temporarily cover a vacant position or to sit on a board or committee. This needs to change. Residents are entitled to see where their tax dollars are going! What are they hiding? Transparency creates trust.
3. Policy and Planning. There should be a review of all policies and codes. For example, the hiring code with regard to nepotism hasn’t been updated since 1998. Many other towns, and even our Board of Education, have adopted a more stringent nepotism policy that not only prevents the abuse of public funds, but emphasizes the fairness and impartiality that must exist in a governing body. My experience with a comprehensive review of all policies as a Board of Education Member will be beneficial to the residents if I’m elected. We need to study and update the Master Plan with a more diverse group of stakeholders than those responsible now. By surveying the entire community to pull together the creativity, skillsets, and energy from all township residents, we can make Bridgewater a real 21 st century municipality.
4. Infrastructure/Environment. Whether it’s redevelopment of existing buildings, coordinating and working collaboratively with the NJ DEP to dredge the many brooks, rivers and streams that wreak havoc on many residents from heavy rain, maintenance of our many beautiful parks (hard to do with their recent 17% cut to park maintenance), sewers (including the 150 ft. section of sewer main line that broke during the storm), the municipal government must address the infrastructure needs of the township more effectively. I want to encourage the installation of many more Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations making it as convenient as possible for people to both charge up and shop, like in the Bridgewater Commons mall, Wegmans, or Chimney Rock Crossing. I would ask the municipal leaders in Branchburg and Somerville to talk to the owners of Shop Rite to get them installed in their parking lots.

What sets you apart from the incumbent Republicans?

I am different in many ways. I am a leader who is not afraid to challenge the status quo or speak up when I see something wrong. I have integrity. I would never engage in certain behaviors that I have seen on the current council, like advertising my business with a sign (or name dropping it) during public meetings, as the current council president has done. My integrity would also make me speak out and tell my council member colleague to pull the sign down, but I didn’t see that happen. If elected, I would work hard to restore the balance between strong and empathetic leadership. Over the last four years the country has become more polarized and, unfortunately, this has trickled down to municipalities across the country including here in Bridgewater. We need leaders to take the higher road and call out childish bullying and the twisting of facts. We need leaders to stand up and unite our community, not sit idly by when some leaders and some of their supporters foment divisiveness for political gain.

I would not use fear as a tactic to gain support. After seeing that the legalization of marijuana passed in the township by 61%, the mayor and council should have initiated a "Bridgewater Cannabis Commission", akin to Westfield's, inclusive of a broad array of stakeholders with at least one public forum. I, personally, was a proponent of showcasing our prime, centralized location and industrial space to be utilized as a warehouse and distribution hub to bring in desperately needed new tax revenue. To be expected, some township officials twisted public members' comments, saying "our quality of life is not for sale" which was a ridiculous distraction to instill fear, something we have been seeing more and more of lately. I would never use fear to gain political support.

I would bring civility and professionalism that is expected from municipal leaders but is not always shown by our Bridgewater elected officials, which was especially apparent during the 2019 local elections. Acknowledging that these issues exist and that Bridgewater deserves better is the first step in uniting our township.

What else would you like to share about yourself or your campaign?

I am not a politician. I am an advocate motivated to help others based on what I believe is the right thing to do. I ran for the Board of Education in 2007 to provide oversight and to be an advocate and fight for every stakeholder in our excellent school district. I testified before the New Jersey State Senate and Assembly Education Committees and helped draft a bill on Core Curriculum Standards because I wanted to fight for all New Jersey students and taxpayers. I am running because I believe the township needs a council that provides genuine oversight over the existing administration and I have the energy, passion, and experience as a public servant to do the work that the people of Bridgewater deserve. The current council is not practicing good governance and is enabling a political patronage environment with excessive "pay to play" practices and it needs to stop. The role of the council is to put the public first. My only priority will be to do what is best for the people of Bridgewater, not for the people running Bridgewater.

My running mates, Jennifer Feigley and Saad Toor, and I are committed to accepting only $1 per year in lieu of the taxpayer-funded salary and subsidized health care benefits the council members and mayor received last year (about $200,000) so that this money can go back into the township to help foster the recovery of our local economy as it rebounds after COVID revenue loss. This would be for at least the first year and reevaluated every year thereafter.

We are ready to bring integrity, unity and vision to our township and make positive changes for all residents. As we all emerge from the many effects of the pandemic, whether physically, mentally, or financially, it’s time to elect new leaders who will lead in a new way. Please join our campaign by visiting OneBridgewater.org, facebook.com/GFT4Council Instagram @onebridgewater and @gladstone4council, and emailing Gladstone4Council@gmail.com.