Take Five: Chatham Township Committee Candidate Celeste Fondaco

CHATHAM, NJ - There are seats opening up on the Chatham governing body and Patch caught up with the candidates ahead of the general election this November.

Questionnaires were sent out out to all candidates registered with the County Clerk's Office in the 2019 general election using the email addresses they went on file with. The responses will be posted on the site by those who submitted in the order in which they were received. They will also be included in an election preview wrap.

This Take Five features Celeste Fondaco. Her responses to the questions are below and unedited.

1. Why are you running for office.

Having lived in the Township and Green Village all of my life, I am very concerned about the direction the Township Committee has taken in recent years. Its difficult to sit through a committee meeting because some to be more interested in making snide comments than earnestly discussing issues before the committee. The Master Plan seems to have been thrown out out of the window as we are failing to protect and enhance our community. Generations of my family have lived here and I want the best for generations to come.

2. What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?

Aside for the fiscal issues we face which Stacey Ewald addressed, I am concerned about over development leaving few affordable homes for seniors and young families. Developers are moving into smaller neighborhoods and ruining their character. The planning board was supposed to address this issue but it was buried in a special committee in 2018 and has yet to be addressed this year. And our beautiful environment. The wholesale cutting down of trees in our community is awful. In the past the Committee used to work with the power companies to prune trees, now they are just clear cutting. And we still lose power due to substations failing. As a Committee member, I would gain consensus to do a review of our master plan, which is out of date in some cases by more than 10 years. This is our guiding document for our future and it should be taken seriously. I would bring back our tree committee, of which I was a member when it was still functioning. We have dedicated volunteers who would keep our standards high to maintain and better how we deal with power companies, developments and homeowners.

3. What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)?

I have very deep roots in our community as my family settled here in the mid 1800's. I know what it was like and i know what our community needs to be. I am a dedicated volunteer serving as one of the first members of the open space committee, was an active EMT on the Chatham Emergency Squad for 13 years helping people and I am still an auxiliary member and I have served as past president of the Art League of the Chathams. I appreciate the beauty of our township, enjoy the walking trails and our precious open space. We need more of this appreciation and action on the Township Committee which we are really lacking. I also am a respectful person and believe you earn respect through your words and your actions. I fought to reduce Shunpike down from four lanes to two because it was better for our community. I enjoy working with people to solve problems and get things done. We need more of that on the Committee.

As for our opponents, I really don't know who Mark is aside from his hateful rhetoric and childish name calling. Since he has only been in the Township for a year, maybe he will step up for the community and do something that he can run on. And the Republican committee did not chose Rez for an open seat opting for Tayfun instead. So that tells you something if your own party did not chose you as the best candidate

4. What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?

Stop the partisanship and start communicating with our residents openly and honestly. While canvassing, I have had people actually ask me why would I want to be on the committee since it is so unpleasant. I have had people tell me they won't come to a meeting to express their concerns because people are treated so poorly. We have to change that. I would like more input not less. I would like to create a senior advisory committee so that seniors can have a say in what they want to see in our community. Our senior center is great but not everyone belongs and we are missing out those voices that are vital to our community.

5. What inspires you?

Our rich history in the Township and its beauty. I am an avid walker and hiker and believe we can do more to preserve the quality of life and promote our wonderful resources like the Great Swamp. I know our surroundings are a big reason why people move here and it is slowly deteriorating. We need leadership who want to fight the good fight to keep our community as special as it is.

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