Candidate Profile: Don Holland

To keep things fair and balanced, Patch has asked each of the four candidates running for the two, three year terms on the Manalapan Township Committee to answer the same questions.

Name: Don Holland

Party: Republican

Why are you running for Township Committee?

I am running for re-election because I care about our town. I have worked hard for Manalapan residents and I believe I can continue to provide them with the quality of life they deserve. I want to continue to seek cost savings and improve efficiency, pursue more Shared Services and Inter-local agreements and to find alternative energy sources to keep our tax rate stable. This is our hometown and we are neighbors.

What is your previous experience?

I was a construction superintendent and project manager on projects with budgets larger than Manalapan’s. Our contracts were for nuclear and fossil fuel power plants, pharmaceutical production and petroleum processing, hospitals, schools, and NASA projects. We specialized in Plumbing, HVAC and process piping. My background as a Sgt. in the Marine Corps attests to my leadership abilities and my sense of honor and integrity. I first became involved in Manalapan Government in 2001 when asked to Chair the newly formed Municipal Agriculture Advisory Committee. Prior, to my election to the Township Committee, I served as a volunteer for eight years: on the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Chairman of the Planning Board, member of the Environmental Commission, and as Manalapan’s representative to COAH, Shared Services, and the Monmouth County Agriculture Development Board. I have headed our Farmland Preservation Program since 2001.

Name the three most important issues in Manalapan Township right now, and why? Name a possible solution for each.

My top three priorities are to continue a stable budget by controlling spending, and improving efficiency in all departments. We will soon be involved in negotiating with our employees, many of which are unions. The two percent cap, imposed on municipalities, is not a minimum guarantee of an increase, but as a point of further negotiations.

Secondly, we must maintain the quality of life issues of public safety, garbage collection, and quality roads. We now have a plan in place for the whole Township that provides for advanced funding, planning, and scheduling of repaving. We are repaving our roads and improving intersections at a huge cost savings by using our DPW instead of outside contractors.

My third priority, is that we must continue to save our remaining open space and farmland. We have saved between 1200 and 1600 acres, depending on whether we include county acquisitions. This has prevented the development of many hundreds of additional houses and the need of additional school and municipal expenditures. It has also negated the impact that all of those houses would have had on traffic, our infrastructure and tax increases. This is our best opportunity to control the over development of Manalapan.

Why should Manalapan Township residents vote for you?

My record speaks for itself. I have worked with the Mayors, both Democrats and Republicans, on three municipal budgets and two school budgets and managed to keep our taxes level. Being retired, except for the farm, I have been able to attend many extra business hour meetings and negotiations at Town Hall and sat in for Committee members who could not attend. I have always been just a phone callaway. Manalapan residents have and always will be my top priority.