CENTRAL JERSEY: Ballots offer low-key municipal campaigns

Contested races in Allentown, Plumsted

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   The municipal political campaigns have been so quiet that voters in Allentown, Upper Freehold, Millstone and Plumsted might not even realize there are any local seats on the ballot until they step into the voting booth Nov. 2.
   The only contested races in The Messenger-Press coverage area are for Allentown Borough Council and Plumsted Township Committee, but even those seem to be operating under the voters’ radar without fanfare.
   ”Yes, it has been a low-key election, but they usually are in Allentown,” said Republican Borough Council incumbent Audrey Mount, one of the few local municipal candidates with an opponent this year.
   In addition to the municipal seats on the ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 2, voters also will be electing members of Congress and deciding on a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit the state from diverting employee wage deductions collected for unemployment insurance, family leave and workers compensation for other uses. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
ALLENTOWN
   In Allentown, four candidates are vying for two Borough Council seats, both for full three-year terms. Mrs. Mount, 75, of South Main Street, and her GOP running mate, Jean Hunter, 69, of Waker Street, are running against Democrats Wayne Smith, of Lakeview Drive, and Robert W. Johnson, 63, of Probasco Drive.
   There also is a one-year unexpired term for Allentown Borough Council on the ballot; however, Republican Councilman Daniel Zorovich, 75, of Sandburg Drive, has no opponent in that race.
   Mrs. Mount, a member of the Planning Board and the chairperson of the borough’s Historic Preservation Review Committee, identified traffic congestion on Main Street, property taxes and the completion of the Main Street Bridge as her priorities if elected to the Borough Council.
   ”My goal would also be to keep taxes down by sharing more services with other communities,” said Mrs. Mount, a retired store owner. “It’s going to be very hard to craft a budget with the state’s 2 percent cap next year.”
   Ms. Hunter, a retired law librarian making her first bid for public office, said she is running because she believes “you should give more to your community than just your presence.” She too is concerned about traffic and encroaching development on the borough’s borders with Upper Freehold and Robbinsville.
   ”We’re a small historic town surrounded by a lot of crushing development,” said Ms. Hunter, who serves on the borough’s Environmental Commission and the Historic Preservation Review Committee. “We don’t want the town destroyed by traffic that our roads cannot withstand.”
   Ms. Hunter said the traffic problems are compounded by the fact that Allentown’s 18th century homes stand close to narrow roads, which were originally built for horse and buggies.
   ”I have had people tell me that the diesel fumes from the heavy trucks coming through town have actually set off the smoke alarms in their houses,” Ms. Hunter said.
   Mr. Smith and Mr. Johnson (not the candidate of the same name who ran for Borough Council last year) are the Democrats on the ballot for the full-term Borough Council seats. Mr. Johnson, 63, a retired science teacher and musician, said he is particularly concerned by the “ongoing feud” between the borough and Upper Freehold Township on issues such as recreation fees, sidewalks and township development projects on the borough’s borders.
   ”This ongoing feud isn’t good for either of the communities,” said Mr. Johnson, a 25-year member of the borough’s Recreation Committee. “I would hope to improve communications between borough and township officials. The people seem to get along fine, it’s the elected officials who don’t.”
   Mr. Smith did not return phone calls for comment before press time.
PLUMSTED
   In Plumsted, Republican Jack Trotta, 47, of Highbridge Road, is running against Democrat Anthony O’Donnell, 46, of Kenyon Drive, for a two-year unexpired term. Mr. Trotta was appointed to the Township Committee in July to the seat vacated by Mike McCue and the election will determine if he or Mr. O’Donnell will complete the remainder of Mr. McCue’s term.
   Mr. O’Donnell, a former school board member, is an economist who was laid off a few months ago from his state job. He said his top campaign issues are the Police Department, which he said is understaffed, and the Plumsted redevelopment plan, which would bring sewers to the downtown area.
   Many of the septic systems in the area are failing, which has thwarted business growth and caused pollution problems in nearby Oakford Lake and Crosswicks Creek. Mr. O’Donnell said that while he agrees with the need to bring sewers to homes and businesses in the downtown area, the proposed solution of piping and discharging treated wastewater into wetlands area near Woodland Manor will exacerbate flooding problems there. He also questions whether owners of more modest homes would be able to afford the sewer hookup fees.
   ”The status quo is not acceptable, but this plan is even worse,” Mr. O’Donnell said.
   Mr. Trotta, a member and trustee of the Plumsted Business and Merchants Association since 2005, did not return phone calls from The Messenger-Press.
   There also are two full-term Plumsted Township Committee seats up for grabs on Nov. 2, but those races are uncontested. Republican incumbents David J. Leutwyler, 51, of Hampshire Court, and Steven R. Reed, of Lakewood Road, have no opponents.
UPPER FREEHOLD
   In Upper Freehold, the Township Committee seats now held by Mayor Stanley Moslowski Jr. and LoriSue H. Mount are up for election this year. Mrs. Mount, 45, of Meirs Road, and Mayor Moslowski, 47, of Sharon Station Road, are running on the Republican ticket and have no opponents in the election. Mrs. Mount is employed as a sales director for a private company in Allentown and Mr. Moslowski is a farmer and excavator.
   Ronald Taft, 65, of Davis Station Road, a primary day write-in candidate who said in June he would accept the Democratic nomination to run for one of the Township Committee seats, is no longer running, according to the township clerk and the Monmouth County Election Division.
MILLSTONE
   In Millstone, incumbent Bob Kinsey, 50, of Fountain Lane, is running for re-election to the Township Committee on the GOP ticket in another uncontested race. Mr. Kinsey currently serves as the township’s deputy mayor and is a certified public accountant and CFO of an environmental real estate and consulting firm.
ROBBINSVILLE
   Robbinsville municipal candidates run in nonpartisan elections in May. Township voters will only be casting ballots Nov. 2 for Congress, Mercer County clerk, two county freeholder seats and the proposed constitutional amendment.