Meet The 2 Democrats Running For Middletown Township Committee

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — This November, there are two seats open on the Middletown Township Committee, and two Republicans and two Democrats running.

Current Township committeemen Kevin Settembrino and Rick Hibell are seeking re-election. Both have been on the Middletown Township Committee for several terms now. They are both Republican. They declined to participate in a "meet-the-candidates" forum that would have been held Oct. 19 by the Lincroft Village Green Association.

They will be challenged by Democrats Rocky Rios and Paige Gregorio. Rios ran last year for Middletown Township Committee and lost. Rios and Gregoio sent us the following about who they are and why they are running:

Rocky Rios, 33 years old

Education: Undergrad: bachelors of engineering in computer engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. Masters in computer science at Georgia Institute of Technology

Occupation: Lead software engineer at AT&T in Middletown

Campaign Website: YourMiddletown.com Campaign Email: rockyformiddletown@gmail.com

(Questions from the League of Women Voters) What are the major challenges facing the community and how would you address them if elected?

Middletown's current government has five elected representatives representing approximately 55,000 voters. One of them is appointed each year to act as mayor, which is a title of strictly ceremonial duties in Middletown.

The ratio of elected representatives to voters in neighboring towns is approximately:

- Matawan and Red Bank: 1 to 1,000

- Hazlet and Holmdel: 1 to 3,000

- Middletown: 1 to 11,000.

Middletown is approximately 40 square miles of diverse neighborhoods including but not limited to: Belford, Leonardo, Lincroft, Port Monmouth, North Middletown and Locust.

Our Township Committee incumbents think they're doing a really good job representing such a large town with that poor ratio, 1 to 11,000. Extreme partisan bias drives that belief: Our incumbents are five Republicans, strongly aligned with the federal GOP, representing a town where 30-40 percent of the voters regularly do NOT vote Republican.

If you vote for me and my running mate Paige Gregorio on Election Day, we will lead the charge to modify our government to best serve your needs. Paige and I want you to be able to do three things:

- Elect your mayor

- Elect someone to specifically represent YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

- Elect future committee members who are unconnected to national political machines

The current township committee thinks this is THEIR Middletown when they should be serving YOU. Let's make it YOUR MIDDLETOWN.

What qualifies you for this position, both personally and professionally?

I started at AT&T in 2011 straight out of college as an entry-level software developer. Over the past ten years, my communication and collaboration skills have propelled me into many more diverse roles. I lead innovation discussions around finding or building the best solutions to problems, given cost, time and labor constraints. The teams that I work with rely on me to be able to engage key stakeholders in the business, understand their true needs and design workable solutions that will satisfy not only them, but other downstream and upstream systems. My job still involves some software development, but my days always include ideation, discussion, negotiation, proposals, reviews ... the types of activities I would expect those in any level of government to be able to do well.

I’m not trying to start a political career — I love my job. But Middletown needs transparent leaders who communicate, deliberate and then come to an agreement, and it needs some structural changes to ensure that happens, so here I am. I’ve been living and paying taxes in Middletown since 2011. I bought my first home here in 2012. I love our communities, and I want the residents of the many communities in our town to get engaged with their elected officials and have their voices considered — and I will work for that goal. Your elected representatives are supposed to work FOR YOU, not for themselves, and not for their party. This is YOUR Middletown, not theirs.

What factors are critical to the quality of life in your community and what would you do to improve or preserve them?

Accountability of our elected officials:

There is a disparity in how the Township Committee hears the voices of our residents. Entire communities in the Township lack representation simply because they lack the resources to elect representatives that care about their local issues in our strictly at-large form of government. So, what we get is one-party rule that only takes care of its own agenda and squelches anything the party insiders feel is a threat to that agenda. Reforming our government to directly represent our diverse neighborhoods will provide us all a seat at the table.

Property taxes:

Middletown, and other towns in Monmouth County that failed to opt out (as Marlboro did) from the ADP (Assessment Demonstration Program), are all suffering skyrocketing yearly property tax assessments that are entirely algorithm driven. This legislation was championed by state Sen. Declan O'Scanlon of the Monmouth County GOP. The Township Committee fell into lockstep and accepted this disastrous tax plan. It is in their best interest to pretend that everything is fine re: property taxes; or blame the state government when convenient. But the ADP is unfair: The assessments are too aggressive, and the yearly time frame makes appeals pointless and ineffective. The Township is happy to reap the gains of these increased assessments and bloat their spending to match it — Paige and I believe we should be budget for what we need instead.

Paige Gregorio, 27 years old

Education: Bachelors of social work from Monmouth University

Occupation: Family Service Specialist, proud member of CWA Local 1037

Lifelong resident of Middletown

I’m running for Township Committee because I think it is important to remind people that local government is meant to focus on our town and incorporate positive changes for all of Middletown’s neighborhoods. I am not looking to make a career of this; rather, I am looking to make a positive change in Middletown and move on when that is accomplished. Additionally, I am a strong advocate for women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights. I am disappointed in how our current Township Committee ignores these constituencies in our town.

A major issue my running mate Rocky and I see in Middletown is with the ratio of elected representatives to voters in Middletown. Our Township continues to grow, and yet the Township Committee has not grown with our population. Additionally, we would like to see Middletown residents directly elect our mayor. Most residents do not realize the mayor of Middletown is an appointed position, selected from among the Committee members!

The Township Committee needs to be representative of, and accountable to, all of Middletown’s residents. A glaring example of the failures of the committee is the lack of support for Middletown’s LGBTQ community. Each year the Township Committee is asked to fly the pride flag during June, and each year they ignore this request.

I believe that it is extremely important that residents of Middletown know that they are seen and heard by their elected leadership. My running mate Rocky and I believe that it is time for all people within Middletown have their voice heard!

The election will be Nov. 8.