Bridgewater General Election 2023: Matthew Moench

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Bridgewater's general election on Nov. 7 has two candidates running for Mayor and four other candidates running for seats on the Township Council.

Republican incumbent Matthew Moench is running for re-election as Mayor against Democrat Dan Hayes.

Additionally, there are four candidates running for two, three-year seats on the Township Council including Republican incumbents Timothy Ring and Michael Kirsh against Democrats Saad Toor and Marguerite Baranowski.

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.

Matthew Moench

Age: 41

Town of residence: Bridgewater

Position sought: Mayor

Party affiliation: Republican

Family: My wife, Stephanie, and I have been married 15 years. We have three children: Jackson (10), Emmanuella (9), Julia (7)

Education: Double Major in Cell Biology/Neuroscience and Political Science from Rutgers College. Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law

Occupation: Attorney

Previous or current elected appointed office: Bridgewater Mayor, 2020-current, Bridgewater Township Council, 2008-2019

Campaign website: www.rightforbridgewater.com

Why are you seeking re-election as a Mayor in Bridgewater?

I'm seeking re-election as mayor to continue the job we began to protect and enhance the quality of life in Bridgewater. That starts with pushing back against the mega-development projects supported by the prior administration. We know what they tried to do with the mega-development on 202-206, which we stopped, but now we need to protect against those same folks trying to it again at the mall. Our team has made it clear that we will not support hundreds of apartments at the Bridgewater Commons Mall and will oppose such proposals. We need to continue to fight against those individuals and entities who seek to destroy our town through overdevelopment.

We also want to continue to work to manage the tax burden on our residents so that families can afford to move here and seniors can afford to stay. We also want to continue our road program and investment in infrastructure. We've paved over 200 roads and we are going to continue our aggressive program to get our roads up to the standards our residents deserve. We will continue our innovative police programs like the Community Police Alliance Coordinator, BridgewaterShield, civilian police academy, and our new Bridgewater Reach program to get help to those struggling with alcohol and drug abuse disorder. We're deploying additional technology to assist our police force and creating a dedicated community policing unit to assist in proactive community outreach, security for schools and places of worship, and building bridges with all members of our community.

Manufacturing buildings or warehouse applications are becoming more common in NJ. How do you feel about proposals to bring this type of development to Bridgewater Township? And how do you propose to limit it?

We oppose warehouse distribution facilities in Bridgewater. We passed an ordinance to prohibit all new warehouses in the township. We are defending that proposal now in court from one developer and we've seen several other applicants postpone their applications until after November in the hopes that we will lose the election. We are also updating our entire Master Plan to make sure that we can limit overdevelopment and protect our suburban character and quality of life.

Having trust and transparency in the township government and police department is important to residents. Do you feel the township is doing a good job of being transparent? How would you improve this?

Trust in government is extremely important. We created the Office of Constituent Relations to help us do just that. That department has helped create our newsletters, worked to get our meetings livestreamed, managed our social media accounts, created the OurBWroads website to provide full transparency on all road projects, created videos on topics of interest to the public, helped create Meetings with the Mayor, and run numerous community functions, such as Bridgewater Founders' Day, 9/11 Memorial, and Veterans' Day events, and partnerships on events like our Diwali Celebration, Lunar New Year Celebration, and Hannukah and Christmas events.

Our police department, working with OCR and our administration, has likewise taken innovative and proactive steps to build trust and relationships with the public, and we are creating a permanent community policing unit to expand these services. This includes items like the Civilian Police Academy, Coffee with a Cop, and allowing the public to experience the virtual reality use of force training. This is all part of our BridgewaterShield public outreach and engagement program. I am also immensely proud of our Community Police Alliance Coordinator program in partnership with Somerset County, which provides additional resources to our police department to assist with mental health and social challenges in the town. We look forward to building and expanding these programs next year.

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

Over the next four years, we will increase our focus and investment on our open space and recreation facilities. We are completing the Recreation and Open Space Master Plan, which will serve as a guiding document for priorities and investment into our numerous public facilities. We are also slated to receive $4 million in federal funds for Camp Cromwell thanks to our partnership with Congressman Tom Kean, which will enable us to open up that facility to the public. Our priorities throughout town include pickleball courts, a cricket pitch, a dog park, a stake park, and improvements to our various "pocket parks" throughout town. I'd also like to see our trail system revitalized, a lot of which took damage in the storms over the past few years.

Drainage and flooding is also another priority. In addition to controlling and limiting development which impacts flooding, we are working on securing funds to enable us to engage in high priority (but also high cost) flood mitigation controls in some of our worst areas of town. We received several hundred thousand dollars towards this work and are continuing to move that forward over the next four years.

What sets you apart from the challenging candidates?

As a father of three young children, my number one priority is to provide the highest quality of life for my family. That means that we have to be able to afford to live here, we have to be safe in our community, we must make sure that we don't do anything to harm the quality of education, and we have to provide the services families deserve, like recreation, open space, paved roads, and quiet neighborhoods. All of that is destroyed by overdevelopment. My opponent was the former mayor who was resoundingly rejected by voters in 2019 because of his pro-development policies. We've already beaten back one of his projects, but we cannot return to the prior pro-development philosophy with properties like the Bridgewater Mall at risk of massive redevelopment.

Unlike my opponents, I will continue to push back against overdevelopment, work effectively with our council to continue our infrastructure plan, support our police department to keep our town safe, and work on behalf of our residents. Most importantly, I will stand firm on my core beliefs - small government, lower taxes, residents-first, and family values - regardless of whether that makes it easier or harder to get elected. Stephanie and I have never lived anywhere else - this is our home - and we'll fight for it.

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

As I've mentioned, I have three kids. One of my favorite things to do is to watch them play sports and do their various activities. Jackson loves baseball and swimming, Emmanuella is our cheerleader and dancer, and Julia loves soccer. I love running and I'm currently training for the San Antonio Marathon in December. We also love traveling and we are trying to visit every state - next year we're looking at maybe a longer trip to Texas or a trip to South Dakota.