Patti Selikoff: Bridgewater Council Candidate Profile

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — There is a heated and contested race for the Bridgewater Mayor and Council this upcoming November election due to ongoing issues of development in the township.

Democrat Patti Selikoff is running for township council on the ticket with Jeffrey J. Brookner and John Arcoleo against Republicans Matthew Moench, Michael Kirsh, and Timothy Ring.

Selikoff, Ring, Kirsh, and Arcoleo are all vying for the two, three-year council seats. Brookner, current Council President Moench and Libertarian candidate Gregg Mele are all running for Mayor.

The election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Here is a look at who Selikoff is and why she is running. Candidates were asked to answer the same questions and each candidate profile will be posted on Patch's site as it gets closer to the election.

Patti Selikoff

Describe yourself:

Patti Selikoff, age 39, grew up on a wheat farm in Kansas as a fourth generation farmer where I learned the importance of hard work in the fields and being part of the community through her strong 4-H roots. I double majored in Biochemistry and Textile Chemistry from Kansas State University and went on to receive my Masters from Cornell University where I met my husband, a New Jersey native, and settled in Highland Park. We moved to Bridgewater seven years ago and have three young children that attend the local Adamsville Elementary School.

Professionally, I worked for New York City Transit for 10 years in the quality management department for Capital Project Management (CPM) and has recently left New York City Transit to open my own Quality Management Firm, Qualsurity, LLC.

Over the past four years, I have been involved with the local MOMS club and have been president of the organization for the past two years. Within the organization, I have helped managed playdates, moms night out programs, trunk or treat, ice cream for breakfast fundraiser, collect toys for underprivileged children and many more activities. But my favorite part is supporting other moms and being part of this amazing community.

What experiences do you have to that would help you serve?

As a quality auditor at New York City Transit, I have become very knowledgeable with the inner workings of how a city plans, bids and builds projects. Since these were city-funded projects, NYC took many steps to make sure that the communities were involved from the early to completed stages. I also worked with some of the best engineers and architects to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to very complex problems as well as being forward thinking about the environment and preserving historical landmarks. I believe these experiences and knowledge will help me guide our community into make smart decisions on how to develop and grow a community we all can be proud of.

What issues would you like to address in Bridgewater?

My biggest issue I would like to address is the transparency and community involvement during the planning process of major developments and ordinances. The current government has spent to many years working in the dark and not worrying about what is best for its residents, roads, schools, and visitors. I would like to see Bridgewater’s government work for the people it serves and the first step to solving this issue is live-streaming all council and planning board meetings.

Secondly, we need to address the master plan. The master plan is a blueprint of what is built in the town and was originally created in 1990. Since then, we have seen major building in this town and even though it is updated periodically it needs to have updated guidelines associated with traffic improvement, open space, and environmentally sustainable buildings.

I believe these updates need to include the following:

Traffic improvement – we need to put together a five and 10 year capital program. This will rate the conditions of the roads and allow the council and mayor to budget for these improvements. I also want to make sure roads are fixed the right way and keep poor construction companies from being awarded projects through a contractor evaluation program which would be similar to the program NYC transit currently uses.

Open space – over the past few years the town has been preserving space but unfortunately has done little with many of the properties such as Darby Tract and Cromwell. I want to make sure that we don’t drop the ball with these properties and make sure we develop them into usable spaces such as a dog park, paved and unpaved walking trails, playgrounds, and etc. As a member of the Daughter of the American Revolutionary war, I also believe preserving our historic open spaces and continue to build up these properties so as to teach our children the sacrifices our fellow Americans gave to insure our freedom and liberties in the great state of New Jersey.

Environment – I believe the council and planning board has done very little to make sure we are encouraging builders to incorporate environmental sustainability into their building practices. As someone with first hand experience, I can attest to the major benefits of having environmental friendly buildings such as having cooler buildings with less energy impact on the grids, more natural lighting for the employees, better flow of air throughout the building, recycling building material, limit the destruction of trees and over better quality of life for those living and working on the property.

I have the knowledge and experience to make sure these are properly implemented into our master plan and continue to build a smarter and desirable town where we want to raise our families in.

Why should voters vote for you?

As a mom of three young children, I want them to have an amazing school to attend, open space to play in, and a community they can be proud to say they are from. I want to serve this community by talking less and listening more to what our residents want and need. Most importantly, I will fight for the Bridgewater residents to make sure they are heard and make sure my vote is for the will of the people.

— (If you are a candidate and would like to participate in the election profile, email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com)

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