Election 2022: Millburn Township Council Candidate Frank J. Saccomandi IV

MILLBURN, NJ — Election Day is coming up, and Patch sent out questionnaires to all candidates seeking local public office.

The Millburn Township Committee election will be held on Nov. 8. Two seats on the five-member committee are up for election that day.

Six people are running for the two seats. You can vote for any two candidates, even though they are running on tickets.

Among the big issues this year: How Millburn will meet its state affordable housing mandate. READ MORE: Emergency Meeting Will Address Millburn Affordable Housing Mandate

We asked each candidate four serious questions and a more creative question. Here is the candidate profile for Frank J. Saccomandi IV.

Name: Frank J. Saccomandi, IV

Campaign website: https://oyinandfrank.com/

Age: 37

Education: BA, Political Science, Bates College, Lewiston, ME

Family information: (be as specific or non-specific as you want): Husband: Jerry L. Kung, Software Developer at Advanced Optimization Systems

Occupation: IT Infrastructure Engineer (Vice President) at Tilden Park Capital Management

Other sources of income: N/A

Does anyone in your family work in government or politics? No.

Volunteer work and community positions: Throughout my life, I have done a variety of pro-bono IT work. I traveled to Paraguay with a non-profit organization and helped deploy donated computers and IT equipment to an impoverished community. I also routinely donate my time and energy to help seniors with their technological needs. I am a civic activist for our community – I have attended and spoken at almost all Township Committee meetings since May, and I have helped bring awareness to our community regarding critical irregularities related to our Township Committee’s secretive handling of the Fair Share Housing Settlement and the lapses in proper testing of the environmental conditions at the town dump.

Other experience and elected offices: I started my own IT consulting business at the age of 16, assisting various small businesses including doctors, lawyers, and independent boutiques. I maintained these clients all throughout college. My first role after graduating was a network administrator at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA prior to transitioning into the financial industry.

What is the best thing about Millburn, and what are some things you believe should be improved?

The best thing about Millburn is the people. World-class talent is attracted to Millburn’s easy commute to the city and excellent schools. As a result, we are a welcoming, diverse community of compassionate, well-educated, and accomplished residents. Every time I go out canvassing neighborhoods, I am humbled by the breadth and depth of expertise our neighbors have. It is the residents of our community who support the fantastic school system, operate our vibrant businesses and restaurants, and differentiate Millburn from other towns in the area. I feel truly lucky to be a part of this community, and I look forward to raising my family in this enriching environment.

I believe that the Township Committee should provide greater transparency and more opportunities for civic participation. The handling of the Fair Share Housing Settlement Agreement was disrespectful to the community – the Township Committee kept the contents of the agreement secret until after it was authorized, potentially violating state statutes. Even now, many residents are unaware that there are plans for a 75-unit 100% income-segregated housing project slated for the DPW site, or town dump. The agreement also allows for high-density housing up to 40 housing units/acre (four-story apartment complexes) in parts of town adjacent to single-family neighborhoods like South Mountain and Wyoming. These land use changes will only incentivize the overdevelopment of our town. Had there been greater community involvement, these problematic portions of the agreement could likely have been avoided.

What makes you uniquely qualified to serve in this position?

I am an IT Infrastructure Engineer with over 15 years of private-sector experience building consensus to address mission-critical problems with diverse teams across global offices. I have managed 8-figure budgets, negotiated large contracts, and managed complex transitions. I approach problems with an engineering mindset and an analytical lens. I don’t simply accept consultant advice at face value – instead, I investigate the facts for myself before crafting solutions. This approach has served me well in my career, and it’s the type of critical thinking our town desperately needs at this juncture.

Millburn is at a crossroads. In the 75-unit 100% income-segregated housing project at the town dump that is part of the Fair Share Housing Settlement Agreement, we could be facing astronomical future legal liability. The Township Committee has not done the proper due diligence regarding the contamination at the DPW site. Our campaign team discovered that soils around leaking underground fuel storage tanks at various sites in town were dumped and subsequently buried there in the early 1990s. The engineering firm retained by the Township to conduct environmental testing still has not reported the relevant toxicity testing in areas of known contamination. It is baffling that the current Township Committee has not demanded more accountability from this firm.

We need competent leaders who exercise the critical thinking skills needed to lead Millburn out of this mess. I have a proven track record in my professional career of building consensus and completing projects on time and under budget.

With which political party are you registered? How much do you think political party, and national politics, should matter in the local race, and why?

To run in this year’s local election, I registered with the Republican Party. I am moderate in my political views – I have been a registered Democrat and a registered Republican at various times in my life, but for the most part I have been an Unaffiliated voter.

I do not believe that political party or national politics should matter in our local race. The only thing that should matter is whether or not a candidate is qualified to take on the responsibilities of serving on the Township Committee in the best interests of residents.

My focus is on preventing the overdevelopment of our town – I am especially concerned about the resulting overcrowding of schools that could threaten our stellar school system, which was one of the main reasons Jerry and I decided to plant roots here. We intend to start a family and use the public schools in our town. I will fight on behalf of young families to prevent the overdevelopment of our town and to protect our children’s exceptional schools. I will also fight on behalf all residents to protect our property values and keep our town safe.

How do you think Millburn should best meet its affordable housing obligation? Also, do you believe the amount of affordable housing mandated by the state is enough, too little, or too much?

Our website https://oyinandfrank.com/affordable-housing has detailed information and videos explaining how we would meet our affordable housing obligation within the constraints of the existing agreement. We employ recent, binding legal precedent that the obligation is not “site-specific” to scrap the two most problematic portions of the agreement: 1) the 75-unit 100% income-segregated dump housing project and 2) zoning changes allowing for up to 40 units/acre (four-story apartment complexes) adjacent to single-family neighborhoods.

Our proposal removes the dump project and equalizes the densities to 16 units/acre in all zones near single-family neighborhoods and 25 units/acre across JFK Parkway where the Hilton is. The beauty of this proposal is that Fair Share Housing does not need to agree to it – because of legal precedent, the onus is on them to argue before the court why it is not a valid way to satisfy our constitutional obligation.

It is widely accepted that the Kinsey Methodology used to calculate each town’s affordable housing obligation is excessive. That’s why towns are encouraged to negotiate a discount off of their full obligation with Fair Share Housing. Our Township Committee did a terrible job negotiating the agreement. We are satisfying 70% of our unmet need through the dump project and zoning changes. Other similar towns only satisfy 20-50% of their unmet need, almost all entirely through rezoning. We could not find any other towns asked to rezone for 40 units/acre or to build a 100% income-segregated project as large as 75 units. We have been saddled with both.

Just to have a more offbeat question and learn more about you: If you could donate just one book to the newly renovated Millburn library, which book would you donate, and why?

This is a great question! I had many choices in mind, but I wanted to select a book that we don’t currently have in our local library. While we do have access to it through the larger BCCLS system, I was surprised to discover that our own Millburn Free Public Library does not yet have a copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

I was introduced to Kahneman and Tversky’s groundbreaking work on prospect theory in college, and I have always been fascinated by behavioral economics. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman explains how various cognitive biases could have outsized impacts on our everyday life. Many of these biases are well-known, such as sunk cost fallacy, but others like the anchoring effect or the endowment effect less so. Being aware of these biases can help us all make better decisions in our own lives and on behalf of our community.

I would highly recommend this book to all residents in town. While Kahneman has sterling academic credentials, this book is highly conversational and accessible, with an abundance of illustrative examples drawn from a deep well of research.