Lower Candidates Talk Consolidation, Less Spending

VILLAS — The audience that packed Millman Center Saturday, Sept. 20 for Candidates’ Night, sponsored by Lower Township Taxpayer’s Association, heard three candidates for mayor and three candidates for council-at-large answer five pre-selected questions.
Since the event was not a debate, there was no winner. All participants received applause for their answers.
Republican mayoral candidate Glenn Douglass, a current council member, is running with Deputy Mayor Robert Nolan, who is seeking to retain his seat. Nolan is Lower Township Republican Party leader.
Independent mayoral candidate Michael Beck, a former two-term township councilman is running with Kevin Lare, a former West Cape commissioner, who is seeking the council-at-large seat.
Democrat Harvey Roach, a former township councilman and his party’s leader, is running with Peter Smith, who is making his first run for township council.
Beck said he and Lare were running as independents for one reason, “We do not wish to owe the Republican Party, we do not wish to owe the Democratic Party, we only wish to owe you the people of Lower Township.”
Smith said he was running as a Democrat because he did not believe he could “mount the campaign necessary to win as an independent.”
On a question of what were candidate’s short term and long term plans for the township and its residents, Roach said there were no easy answers to return the township to where it was 12 to 14 years ago. He called for a “pragmatic common sense approach” to manage the township’s increasing taxes and debt service payments.
Roach said the township Municipal Utilities Authority could produce income through renewal energy. He also promised to improve water and sewer services.
Douglass said water and sewer should be made available to new customers at an affordable price, and that the county airport should be further developed to create new jobs. He called for the formation of a board to find new sources of revenue for the township.
Beck said he would form a mayor’s advisory board and “dramatically” increase citizen involvement in government.
“We also promise to have the most open government in New Jersey,” he said, noting he would put bills on the township’s Web site before they are paid. “We will open up our town like a can of soup and take the lid off so everyone can see what is going on in government.”
He said he and Lare believed in strict property maintenance codes and landlord responsibility legislation. Beck suggested moving the police department back to Bayshore Road from the airport.
Nolan said the township needed new businesses that paid more than minimum wage. He said the township needed a strong police force and needed to find a balance between development and the need for new ratables.
Lare said he would greatly expand information on the township’s Web site including posting agendas before meetings and establish “robust” Neighborhood Watch programs. For problems such as those occurring at Mulligan Field, a watch program working in conjunction with police “would get thugs out of your neighborhood.”
He suggested the township study buying hybrid vehicles as a cost savings measure. Lare said stabilizing taxes all came down to regionalization and consolidation of services.
Nolan suggested the township perform vehicle repair services for neighboring towns under an interlocal agreement. He said storm sewers could be cleaned out for 25 percent less than current cost by an outside firm.
The candidates all agreed further regionalization and sharing services was needed as well as alternative energy sources to lower expenses.
Douglass suggested the township bid to handle trash collection and recycling for neighboring communities such as Cape May Point.
Beck said the township needed a leaner workforce but only through attrition with no layoffs.
On a question of promoting the township’s image and identity as a place to work, reside and enjoy, Roach said a “well-managed and progressive government promotes a wonderful place to live.”
Beck said the Sweet Briar Motel damaged the township’s image and it was he that held the county accountable for what took place there.
“As mayor I would have spoken out when a former state senator received a $130,000 a year job after he voted for a school funding formula which hurt our town and its taxpayers,” he said.
Smith the DRBA needed to be held accountable for how it is promoting the airport. He said the township needed to promote light industry and build on the tourist industry.
“We lost our theater, we have a shopping center closed down, we are not Camden or Trenton, we are not inner city, we need not look like we are though,” he said.
Lare said council needed to govern in an “open and honest way, not behind closed doors or in the backroom which tends to subject our town to satire and negative editorials.”
He said the entrance to Bennett’s Crossing recreational complex remains a “mess.” Lare said he blamed poor leadership not township workers.
On a question of the township’s most pressing problems, Smith said campaigning door-to-door, he was hearing more complaints about water issues than taxes. Residents also complained about a lack of professionalism in completing projects, renewable energy sources not being addressed, growth of the budget and problems with bulk trash, leaf and grass pick up, he said.
Smith said he and Roach would address those issues “since we pay good money for people to handle this…”
Roach called for a drastic reduction of capital expenditures.
Douglass said he concurred with Roach. He also called for waterlines to be brought to the Town Bank/Cox Hall area and flooding addressed by repairing outfall pipes.
Beck said the township has lost 11.3 percent of its population since 2000. He said he has seen empty homes as he campaigned which affect businesses, grant money and tax collections.
Nolan warned infrastructure in the township was beginning to deteriorate and was 60 years old in some spots.