BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer
MILLTOWN — One incumbent and one former councilman are running against two newcomers in this fall’s Borough Council election.
Incumbent Mike Skarzynski, a Democrat, will seek his fourth term on the council, running alongside Joseph Cruz, who served on council from 2001-03 but lost in his bid for re-election that year.
For the Republicans, Randy Farkas and John Dunay are running for what would be their first terms. Dunay was defeated in his bid for a council term last year.
Cruz, 43, a borough resident for the past 35 years, is currently a canine officer with the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department.
He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and is a member of the Knights
of Columbus, Marine Corps League/Basilone Detachment and a communicant of Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Milltown. As a councilman, he chaired the borough’s Public Safety Committee.
Skarzynski, 42, who has lived in the borough for 14 years, is currently the council president. Currently employed as chief of staff at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center, North Brunswick, Sarzynski said he still wants to help the community he has served for the past nine years.
“I got involved because I wanted to help the people of Milltown, and I still feel that I have a lot to give to the town,” Skarzynski said.
The No. 1 issue in town, Skarzynski said, is always taxes. He said the council has an impressive record in recent years of keeping property taxes stable, and would look to continue that success.
Dunay, a police lieutenant in Dunellen who moved to Milltown from Perth Amboy 13 years ago, said he would like to examine the tax structure in town and work to make the system more efficient.
“It’s always easy for the politicians to come back and say, ‘We’re raising taxes,’ but somebody’s got to stand up and say, ‘Where is this going? Is this the best course for the township?’ ” Dunay said.
Farkas said that with the existence of pressing community issues such as the Ford Avenue redevelopment, the little things involved in running the day-to-day affairs of the town must not be overlooked.
“Ford Avenue has clearly come to the forefront, but it’s not the only issue in town,” Farkas said. “We kind of really need to focus on the taxes as well as Ford Avenue, but all the doldrums of the day-to-day routine need to be kept up on.”
Farkas moved to the borough from Hopelawn 14 years ago. He is the chairman of the borough’s Fourth of July Committee, and serves on the Mill Pond Park Committee as well as Mayor Gloria Bradford’s Anti-Vandalism Task Force.
“So, doing all of those things, it’s kind of the natural progression to try to get more involved,” said Farkas, who also coaches basketball and softball in the town’s youth recreation program. “I am ecstatic to live in Milltown. The people that live here are blessed to live in such a nice, friendly, close-knit community.”
Farkas added that, if done right, the Ford Avenue redevelopment would make the town an even better place to live.
“I think this redevelopment is going to be the renaissance and it’s going to jump-start this community, and it’s going to just take us right into the future,” Farkas said.
Dunay said that everyone in town agrees that something must be done with the 22-acre redevelopment site, but officials must make sure the most beneficial and cost-effective solution is determined and implemented.
Dunay said he was not discouraged by his defeat in last year’s election, since he is not a well-known political figure, and if elected, he would represent the common resident.
“I think it’s everybody’s civic responsibility to at least keep the system moving,” Dunay said. “I’m certainly not a politician, but looking at what the people have done, I figured it’s about time that we got somebody that could look at it from the other standpoint, instead of being a professional politician.”
Dunay said he enjoys the safety and security of a small town like Milltown, as well as the friendly character of the community.
“And, hopefully, with all the expansion in the towns around us, we can keep that hometown atmosphere,” Dunay said.
Aside from Bradford, there is only one Republican on the council, he noted, saying that having another member of the Republican Party on the council would benefit the residents by making party representation equal on the governing body.
“Right now, it’s woefully imbalanced,” Dunay said. “And I think what the people need is somebody on council that could tell the emperor he has no clothes.”
Skarzynski said the lack of Republican representation on the council has never been a problem.
“Even though I’m a Democrat, and I believe in the Democratic Party, I’ve always prided myself on working with both parties for the betterment of Milltown,” Skarzynski said.
The rest of the council shares that philosophy, he said, adding that he has worked with two Republican mayors and enjoyed a good working relationship with both of them.
Skarzynski has been council president three times, and was acting mayor in 1997 for approximately nine months.
He said he is proud of the accomplishments the council achieved during his tenure, including bringing the local cable access channel to the borough.
“Before that, the people of Milltown were kept in the dark,” said Skarzynski, who spearheaded the project. “Now all the council meetings are taped. The Planning Board is taped, the Ford Avenue Redevelopment Agency is taped, so people can sit in their living room and really be tuned in on what’s going on with Milltown.
“Over the years, there’s probably not a person in town that hasn’t been on the station,” he added.
Skarzynski said he led efforts to construct the borough swimming pool, and helped the borough take a significant step toward ensuring the safety of its youth.
“In 2001, when I was liaison to the recreation department, we were one of the first towns in New Jersey to implement criminal background checks for coaches,” Skarzynski said. “We were actually the first town to get funds from the Megan Kanka Foundation to do criminal background checks.”
Farkas said he is ready and willing to spend the time and effort it takes to represent the residents on council, and just being asked to serve his community was an honor.
“From what everyone tells me, the big commitment is time,” Farkas said. “But when you like what you’re doing and you really, truly care about what you’re doing, I think it makes it kind of easy.”