Meet Matawan's Candidates for Council

Council Candidates

Peggy Devlin Blazewicz (D)

Peggy Devlin Blazewicz said she decided to run after recieving a letter, sent to all registered Matawan Democrats, encouraging members of the party to run.

"I felt it was my civic duty to run," she said.

Blazewicz has previously worked as a financial analyst and as a software implementation manager. This is her first time running for political office. Blazewicz believes that her understanding of smart business, software technology and effective management and leadership ability make her a qualified candidate.

Blazewicz is a democrat and was originally running alongside Sammarco and Bill Cole. However, after not seeing eye to eye with local democrats, she said she now supports incumbent Paul Buccellato in the mayoral race.

"I don't think it is good to have one party in total control," she said. "But I don't think that being Democratic or Republican at the town level really means much."

Blazewicz emphasized the need for people with different ideas to work together to find efficient solutions that save money, and applauded the shared court services initiative taken up by the current council.

"This is my first time running. If people want somebody that has no agenda, I am not looking for a political career; I'm not looking to put it on my resume. I'm just here to try to help," she said.

William Cole (D)

After sixteen years of living in Matawan, Bill Cole finally decided to take the plunge and run for borough council.

"It's something I've been interested in for a long time and when the letter came out I said, "It's time to step up; here's my opportunity,"" Cole said.

Cole started walking door to door with , the democratic candidate for mayor, in April before the primary election. Cole said the reason they started so early was to find out what is important to the residents, especially those who have listed their houses for sale and are leaving the area.

"The most resounding comment is people saying that their taxes keep going up and they feel like they're not getting anything from it," he said. "My goal is to get in there day one and get work done."

In addition to working to reduce taxes through shared services agreements, Cole believes the borough should look into using renewable energy sources, such as , to help reduce costs.

Cole, a recovery counselor and researcher in the psychiatric rehabilitation field, is currently working on his Ph.D. in psychiatric rehabilitation and does volunteer work in his spare time.

Tom Fitzsimmons (R)

Tom Fitzsimmons decided in 2006 that he wanted to help the town by running for council. However, he did not win the election. Still eager to help, he said, Fitzsimmons ran again in 2008 and won a position as a councilman.

As a political consultant who used to buy and sell real estate, Fitzsimmons said he was confident that he would be able to balance a budget with a large deficit. Once elected, Fitzsimmons became the chairman of the finance committee and inheriting a budget deficit of about $435,000, he said.

"In three years, we really put the borough back on a much more stable fiscal footing. We revaluated our banking relationships, changed health care providers and now we're combining the courts," he said. The council also refinanced bonds and made cuts where they could, according to Fitzsimmons.

Fitzsimmons describes himself as fiscally conservative, and believes that small cuts add up at the local level.

"Everywhere that we could cut back responsibly and still deliver services to the borough, that's what we decided to do."

Moving forward, Fitzsimmons plans to focus on keeping property taxes down through creating ratables and developing where possible, such as along Route 34 and the train station.

"We're taking the steps to be shovel-ready at the train station when the real estate and economy turn around," he said.

Joe Urbano (R)

Joe Urbano, a mechanic for the Garden State Parkway with his own heating and air conditioning company, will be running for his second three-year-term in the upcoming election. Before coming a councilman, Urbano said, he began attending town council meetings.

"I started going to meetings two to three years before I ran," he said, "And the more I got involved the more I wanted to be involved."

Urbano said he is proud of how quickly the council worked to get Ravine Drive up and running after it was . Urbano often met Buccellato at the dam to evaluate the progress, he said, and was happy to see the road opened in less than three weeks.

He is a supporter of shared services, reducing the budget where possible and working to improve the Water Plant, which Buccellato described as, "old and tired."

Urbano and the other members of the council don't always see eye to eye, he said, but he believes that a healthy discussion helps create the best outcome for Matawan residents.

"All of us on council have different opinions and we get into pretty heated discussions but i think the benefit of that is we all feel free to voice our opinion and it comes out for the best for Matawan," Urbano said.

Editor's Note: This article was updated to reflect that Buccellato referred to the Water Plant as old and tired, and the DPW.