Joseph Questore Grant Avenue

Joseph Questore Joseph Questore

Democrat

Councilman Joseph Questore believes residents ought to be able to conduct business at borough hall without leaving home.

If he is re-elected to a full three-year term on the Borough Council, the Democratic official says he would help implement “e-government,” a computer-based system allowing residents to apply for building permits, pet licenses and other documents online.

Although he has been in office less than a year, Questore says he is now working on setting up such a system, which could also store borough records electronically.

“It could make the work flow more efficient and save some money,” said Questore, an information technology manager for Cisco Systems in Wall.

Currently serving out the last year of the unexpired term of former Councilman Charles Riddle, Questore hopes to see his ideas come to fruition over the next three years.

In particular, Questore believes that municipal budgets should be more closely examined for areas to trim expenses.

“[Residents] want services; they cost money,” Questore said. “But you have to [provide] them more efficiently.”

Working through the unions, Questore would like see borough employees contribute toward the cost of their benefits, as is done in the private sector.

He also favors revisiting last year’s revaluation of residential properties, which has resulted in a record number of tax appeals.

A 16-year resident, Questore proposes working with the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to build a pedestrian overpass across Route 36 that could link a new borough-owned park with Memorial and Vetter schools on Grant Avenue.

The new park will be located at the former Stella Farm off Route 36 and Grant Avenue.

“I’d like to see more pedestrian safety near our parks and schools,” Questore said.

Other borough parks should be connected via a greenway as well, he added.

The future uses of Fort Monmouth, after it shuts down in September 2011, also matters to him.

“I’m very concerned about what will go there,” Questore said.

The rent control ordinance adopted by the council last month represents a “big step” forward on behalf of apartment complex and mobile home residents in town, said Questore, who says he is glad to have voted for the measure.

Without that ordinance, renters would have been left without a safety net because their landlords could not come to terms on the borough’s rent stabilization contract, which expired on Sept. 30, he noted.

Questore also briefly filled an unexpired term on the Eatontown Board of Education until April 2005.