Serena DiMaso HOLMDEL – Voters opted for a split vote last week, re-electing current Republican Mayor Serena DiMaso along with former Democratic Committeewoman Janet Berk.
In addition to both candidates being women, both are non-practicing attorneys, mothers and have previous experience on the committee.
Berk was the lead vote getter with 2,091. She is a former committee member (2003-05) who lost in the 2005 municipal election by just 25 votes.
Incumbent DiMaso earned 1,966 votes. She now enters her third term on the committee and has been mayor for the past two years.
Also running was Republican Gerald Allocco, who drew 1,775 votes, and Democrat Mike Sockol, with 1,886 votes. There were eight write-ins for a total of 7,726 ballots counted.
Berk said she is looking forward to making the local government more receptive to participants by adding a public comments portion at the beginning of each committee meeting. Presently, the committee only hears comments at the end of the meetings. Berk would like to see two public portions.
Janet Berk Berk also wants to relieve property taxes by selling the development rights of the DePalma property to the state. The DePalma property, a 92-acre farm located on Centerville Road, was purchased by the township as open space in 2001. By selling the development rights to the state, the farm would still remain as open space.
Berk is also eyeing the funds owed to the town regarding the PNC Arts Center litigation. She said these funds ought to be returned to the taxpayers as well.
The future of the Lucent property remains high on Berk’s list of priorities. She feels the site should remain zoned as office/laboratory, negating the possibility of any new housing.
DiMaso is looking forward to a third term on the committee. Whether she’ll be chosen to lead as mayor for a third year in a row was yet to be decided as of press time.
DiMaso said her main focus for the upcoming term is to stabilize taxes. Other priorities include building a new library and fixing up the swim and tennis clubs.
“I’d like to see the library move forward,” DiMaso said on Monday. “We’ve put that on hold for quite a while … We’re looking to do a joint building with the Board of Education and [perhaps] a neighboring municipality.”
Although a site for the new library has yet to be chosen, DiMaso noted that there has been talk of erecting a twostory structure at the Crawfords Corner Road municipal complex, perhaps between the post office and senior citizen’s community center. This building would serve the dual purpose of library and school administration office building.
DiMaso also expressed interest in fixing up existing structures, like the swim club and the township’s tennis center. The tennis facility, in addition to needing work, currently requires a membership fee. DiMaso said she would like to eliminate this fee.
“The tennis center is in need of repair,” DiMaso said. “The electricity hadn’t worked in a while. I’d like to focus some attention on that, making it a better facility and opening it up to the entire town [without a membership fee.”]
Encouraging volunteerism is also one of DiMaso’s concerns. She is especially concerned about the growing need for more volunteers on the first aid squad, of which she is a member.
“The biggest thing is to stabilize the tax rate so residents can stay here and enjoy the amenities that we’re trying to give them,” DiMaso said.