Gerald Jay Briscione* (D) Biography: Grew up in Oceanport; appointed to council in January to unexpired term; member of the Planning Board for seven years, board vice chairman in 2003 and current member of the master plan review committee; youth sports coach for the past five years; appointed to the Monmouth Park Stakeholders’ Committee. Occupation: Founder and president of The Meers Group, a national real estate appraisal and consulting firm. What has been/will be your contribution while serving on Borough Council?
Gerald Jay Briscione
January 2004, I was appointed to council and since then, I convinced the NJSEA to add an appointment from Oceanport to the Monmouth Park Stakeholders’ Committee. I developed and articulated the concerns Oceanport had with possible lease of Monmouth Park. Also, I wrote the Community Development Grant application for the first aid squad that involved the joint efforts of several other parties. The squad subsequently received a $43,449 grant for ADA improvements to their building addition.
Alfred “Butch” Guzzi Jr. (D) Biography: Lifelong resident of Oceanport, serves on the Borough Capital Improvement Committee. Occupation: Career firefighter and owner of Big “A” Trucking Co.
Robert J. Holden* (D) Biography: Oceanport resident for six years; presently serving on the Borough Council as an appointee since March; volunteer firefighter for more than 35 years; former borough prosecutor in Monmouth Beach and former assistant and alternate borough prosecutor in Tinton Falls, Middletown, Sea Bright, Eatontown, Ocean, Highlands, Neptune Township and Red Bank. Former municipal public defender for Long Branch; trustee of the Sandy Hook Foundation; former instructor in Graduate School of Business Administration, Monmouth College, trustee and Alumni Association president of Monmouth University. Occupation: Attorney with a practice in Shrewsbury. Joseph Foster
Joseph Foster (R) Biography: Resident of Oceanport since 2002; served for 10 years on Long Branch Zoning Board, five years on Long Branch Cable Commission, one year on the Oceanport Cable and Technology Commission and two years on the Monmouth County Transportation Council; involved in the creation of the Greater Long Branch Council of the Arts. Currently a member of the Long Branch Rotary Club and past member of the Long Branch Tomorrow advisory board. Occupation: Technologist, specializing in advanced systems design and deployment for government and industry; formerly worked with U.S. Department of Defense, the FBI and as a data center manager for Merrill Lynch. My contribution to the borough of Oceanport will be the years of diversified experience that I have specifically in the area of urban revitalization and municipal land use. I also have a strong understanding of what can happen to a community if sound planning principles are not understood by a community’s elected and appointed officials. In Oceanport, there is some evidence of questionable variances being granted that will have an impact on the town for years to come. This knowledge also translates into a strong understanding of the concerns that all property owners in the town have regarding revaluation, tax stabilization and the status of the racetrack.
Richard Gallo
My business is located in Oceanport and being here will allow me to be more accessible to the residents of Oceanport and also to the employees and services of the community. Running my own business has given me understanding I can bring with me to council in working in the areas of purchasing, grants, employees, health care and accounting.
Alfred “Butch” Guzzi Jr.
I will draw on my career experience in public safety. I know how critically important it is to provide lifesaving services, while also meeting the challenges of budget constraints. We are lucky in Oceanport to have a fine group of trained volunteer professionals in the First Aid and Fire Department as well as our Police Department.
I will focus on quality-of-life issues, concentrate on stabilizing taxes, improving our parks and preserving open space. I know that it is also important to continue our road improvement program as well.
Robert J. Holden
My major contribution so far should be considered to be my work in reviewing the Shore Regional High School budget that was overwhelmingly defeated by the voters in Oceanport. I served, along with Mayor Maria Gatta as well as with delegates from the other three municipalities’ governing bodies, in an effort to reach an accord to carry out the interests of the Oceanport voters when their interests were not necessarily in full accord with those of West Long Branch and Monmouth Beach. It was a very satisfying effort to help in reaching a consensus of budget reduction with all four boroughs and in a manner which afforded the Board of Education an opportunity to trim $300,000 from their budget without sacrificing student programs.
Hugh Sharkey
Oceanport residents need a council person with financial and administrative experience to make sure taxpayers are receiving the best value for our tax dollar from the professionals who provide insurance, accounting and legal services. My training and experience providing internal control services to publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange would benefit Oceanport taxpayers. For example, my review of borough records revealed the borough did not have written contracts with any of the borough professionals prior to 2004; insurance and other expenses were not competitively bid; and the borough’s health insurance carrier is now looking into individuals who may be inappropriately covered on the borough’s insurance policy. This lack of attention to details and state laws is costing Oceanport taxpayers.
What is your opinion on the council’s handling of the 2004 borough budget process? What would you have done
differently?
Gerald Jay Briscione
The Board of Education has the responsibility to formulate budgets and regulations affecting the school district. Quality schools are a reason people move to Oceanport. Once the budget failed, it was the responsibility of council to review it and make recommendations. We retained an expert to advise us and suggest reductions. A compromise resulted. I think the process became unnecessarily adversarial. Council and the board need to work together so the residents have confidence that the budget reflects both a quality education and fiscal responsibility. The regional budget experience produced a positive result in that the four sending districts worked together to formulate a unified position that resulted in budget cuts.
Joseph Foster
An area of concern that I have is the question of tax stabilization and the current spending policies of the town. It is my contention that we must always focus first on the ways that we are spending the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars before we go to the tax side of the equation. Discretionary spending, bonding and the relationship to how the school systems are funded will always be an ongoing issue, especially in the current political reality.
The 2004 budget was in many ways too passively accepted in my opinion. I believe that elected officials should have pursued far more shared services with adjoining towns than was in fact done. Long Branch and Little Silver would be great potential partners for regionalizing these shared services. The council could pursue the exploration of additional cost savings through regionalizing many more services with our neighboring communities.
I understand and agree with the concept of home rule; however, it is paramount that we, as elected officials, become more fiscally responsible to the citizens of our towns. Duplicating services only drives up the tax bills for all concerned, so we must be smarter about how we spend the taxpayers’ money.
Richard Gallo
The budget not passing on the first vote did some good for the community. It made the council take another look and see that there were savings to pass on to residents thus reduced taxes. I do feel there are areas that can be looked at to save more money possibly through shared services and regionalization.
Robert J. Holden
I was sworn in to my council seat as an appointee on the evening that the failed budget was brought up for a new vote. While I did not have the benefit of participating in the deliberations that preceded the failed budget vote, I did have the opportunity to study the proposed budget and participate in building a consensus to pass the final budget. I was not subjected to the apparent wasted time and effort that had to have frustrated many because of an ill-thought-out political effort to defeat the very budget which the dissenting members had apparently previously indicated support for. The reality of it all was that a sound and efficient budget was passed.
Hugh Sharkey
The handling of the 2004 budget was very unprofessional. The personal attacks against council members who voted against the initial budget were completely out of line. The fact is the budget contained a $99,000 error that was suddenly found at the last minute. This clearly demonstrates the lack of control over the borough’s financial information.