incumbent Narozanick
in November election
June 3 winner will face
incumbent Narozanick
in November election
By dick metzgar
Staff Writer
Two Democrats have filed to run in the June 3 primary election to represent their party and seek the one open three-year seat on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders in the November general election.
One of the two men, Jeffrey R. Pringle, 34, of Tinton Falls, is being endorsed by the county’s Democratic Party, having been officially selected at a mini-convention of the party held at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highlands on April 5.
Scott J. Basen, 44, of Freehold Borough, will challenge the party’s candidate and also seek to win a spot on the Democrat ticket in November.
Incumbent Republican Freeholder Ted Narozanick, 82, of Freehold Borough, is seeking re-election and will be unopposed in the June primary. Narozanick, the retired Monmouth County administrator, is seeking his seventh straight three-year term as a freeholder.
Pringle, a history teacher at the Cedar Drive Middle School, Colts Neck, is being endorsed by the Democrats for running what has been termed a "tough race" against incumbent Republican freeholders Harry Larrison and Thomas Powers last November. He received more than 66,000 votes.
Pringle is the chairman of the Tinton Falls Democratic Committee. He said he believes the county should be more involved in controlling development in the region and believes the county is spending far too much money, especially in positions he termed patronage.
During a campaign debate last October at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan, Larrison and Powers said they believed individual municipalities should bear the responsibility for controlling growth in their communities.
Later, after he was re-elected, Powers changed his stance on the issue, saying he believed the county should more actively address the issue of development and what some call over-development.
Pringle, as he said during last year’s campaign debate, reiterated that he will not accept the county’s "hands off" approach to the issue of development.
"We can just raise our hands and surrender to the developers," Pringle said. "We must work with the local governments to control development. The freeholders, the county planning board and the engineering department must be involved. We’ve allowed local redevelopment. Now we need to take a good look at regional issues."
Although the county’s tax rate has remained relatively stable in recent years, Pringle said the county’s budget is much too large, and at the present rate will continue to increase at an unacceptable pace. This year’s county spending plan amounts to $392 million.
"At the rate they’re going, the budget’s going to top half a billion dollars in three or four years," Pringle said.
Patronage in the way of jobs and lucrative contracts to firms can be slashed to save county taxpayers a lot of money, Pringle said.
"We’re spending too much money," the candidate said. "Exploring ways to reduce the amount of patronage to those who support [people] in office will be an issue for me. These supporters are currently getting sweetheart deals from the county."
As an example, Pringle said private engineering firms which support the county administration are getting lucrative contracts to serve as consultants and provide professional services.
"The county has an engineering department and I think we should be doing more in-house work, rather than farming it out to outside engineering firms," Pringle said. "If necessary, we should expand the engineering department so that it can do the work, rather than give the perception that outside firms are actually buying work."
Basen, an attorney who is the chairman of the Freehold Borough Democratic Party, is running for political office for the first time. He is currently the borough’s municipal prosecutor. During the 1990s, Basen was active as the president of Freehold Beautiful Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the beautification of the community. He could not be reached for comment.
The county Board of Freeholders has five members, all of whom are Republican. In addition to Larrison, Powers and Narozanick, the members of the freeholder board are Amy Handlin Edward Stominski.
The freeholders oversee the five mandatory functions of county government delegated to it by the state. They are: Administration and Special Services; Public Works and Engineering; Human Services and Health; Finance; and Administration of Justice, and Parks. In total, the board is responsible for supervising more than 70 county departments.