The Experience Garwood Deserves

When deciding who should lead our borough for the next few years, ask yourselves, what defines experience? For me experience is defined by the litany of successes I have led in my time on council. For instance, in the first few weeks of this year I found that Garwood was losing over $55,000 in revenue from NON-Garwood residents who were renting our athletic field with a rate that had not been adjusted since the time the complex was built. If our leaders were effective leaders, why would they not have had a pulse on this extreme loss of revenue? This revenue loss directly impacts the residents! The trust fund that this money sits in was trending as low at $25,000, now it is around $75,000 and growing! This is the leadership and experience Garwood needs.

I proudly stood with residents during the budget process. During that time, Mayor Todisco was actively reporting the occupancy at Vermella and our finance chair was still expecting an almost full payment unaware that that payments would not be close to expectations. Why? Are our leaders not aware of the structure of our PILOT agreement? This is NOT leadership. I, on the other hand, have read the 90-page document and know it is based on a sliding scale of rentals. My experience, knowledge and effective ability to retain information is the leadership we need as we continue to pursue the PILOT funds in the future.

I have watched over the past 2 years the failures within our senior program with regards to non-stop location issues. It is funny to me that during a big election year we, all of a sudden, have money to fund the rental of the Knights of Columbus for the senior meetings, since we failed to secure them an adequate borough location. That is NOT leadership.

I was so happy I able to give the DPW and their facilities the attention it deserves. Why did it take me to bring these decrepit conditions to the table. Councilwoman Blumenstock has been chair of the DPW for 6 years. Why is she not advocating for her department? The DPW was short staffed all summer why did it take me to keep asking our BA what the status of hiring was? Councilwoman Blumenstock even campaigned this year on a fully staffed DPW, which was not correct until just a few weeks ago. In addition to these and many other successes, I am extremely proud that I was able to lead in garnering bi-partisan support for safety initiatives that were long overdue and just common sense.

My experience as a parent, resident and active participant in the community provides the much-needed leadership Garwood deserves. My opponents want you to believe that “experience” is increasing Garwood’s debt from $3.2 million to $7 million like Councilwoman Blumenstock did over the past 4 years. They want you to believe that “experience” is divisive rhetoric and the tactics administered by my opponents as documented over and over, especially the attacks on my family. I admittedly don’t ever want to be experienced in spending money we don’t have during the highest inflation we have ever witnessed, saying yes to all purchases brought to council regardless of cost impacts, nor do I want to be experienced in painting false pictures of what is real within our borough.

I am experienced in being an honest leader, being successful at every level and making Garwood an even better place for families to grow. With myself, Steve Napolitano and Brenda Caffrey you will have the experience of more than 10 generations of Garwood fighting every day for you.