ANTHONY FIORE (R) has lived in Middletown for almost eight years. He is a pension and benefits specialist for Prudential Investments. Fiore, who currently serves as mayor, has been on the Township Committee for one term and currently serves on the Shared Services Committee between the township and the Board of Education. He chaired the 10th Anniversary of the September 11 Memorial Committee. He previously served on the Planning Board and on the Recreation Master Plan Implementation Committee. In Middletown Township, two seats on the Township Committee are up for election. Four candidates are running for the three-year terms: one Republican incumbent, and two Democratic and one Republican newcomers.
Q. What do you believe is the main issue facing Middletown? What specific steps can and will you take to tackle this issue?
CAROL FOWLER (D), a Lincroft resident since 1985, is an assistant curator at the National Guard Militia Museum in Sea Girt. She directs the Center for U.S. War Veterans’ Oral History Program, a partner of the Library of Congress Veterans’ History Project. Fowler is a 29-year member of the Lincroft First Aid & Rescue Squad. Fowler was a registered Republican until six months ago. FIORE: Like any town, the main issue facing Middletown is taxes. This year’s budget cut spending by almost $4 million to meet the governor’s caps. I implemented changes in the budget with respect to insurance, which has become a very big cost-driver. I helped make changes that will save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars this year and millions of dollars over the course of a lifetime, including negotiating 25 percent mandatory contributions to the premium health and insurance plans by some of our local unions.
JAMES GRENAFEGE (D) has lived in Middletown for 13 years. He has worked as a manager at major corporations and as a consultant. His experience inc ludes manage- ment develo pment, emp l oy e e relations and labor relations. As a volunteer, he has facilitated hospice bereavement support groups and has coached youth lacrosse. FOWLER: The main issue facing Middletown is tax increases. I would eliminate wasteful spending. Let’s get rid of what we can’t afford in this town. The Middletown Arts Center and the swim club are just a couple of examples. Our township cannot sustain such frivolous spending when we have seniors who can barely afford to purchase food and homeowners who lose everything when a tropical storm sweeps through, with no solution in place for their longtime flooding predicament. I truly believe in spending within our means.
STEPHANIE MURRAY (R) has lived in Middletown for 10 years. She operates a small publishing company. She is a member of the Zoning Board, has served on the Recreational Advisory Board and is a volunteer with the PTA at her child ren’s schools. GRENAFEGE: The main issue facing Middletown is the lack of elected and appointed two-party representation. The lack of twoparty representation allows the majority to avoid accountability and in-depth substantial discussion of a basket of issues that Middletown faces. This allows a lot of items to be discussed in public more than they are now. I’m an advocate for small, open representative government focused on local tax relief. I position myself as a champion for fiscal responsibility, government accountability and open access to public information.
MURRAY: Taxes have always been my top priority. I would continue the policy of not spending what we don’t have. Last year, the mayor and Township Committee were really lean with the budget. Sharing services and pooling resources are great ways to keep the budget lean. The town has already begun to do this with the Board of Education, and I would like to continue looking for additional cost saving measures in this area.
Q. Why are you qualified to serve on the Middletown Township Committee, or what have you done during your committee term that qualifies you to serve again?
FIORE: I bring a very hard-line fiscal conservancy to the Township Committee. We’ve negotiated zero percent pay increases for the past two years. Changes to our health insurance plan that we’ve made are going to pay huge dividends to taxpayers going forward. We’ve made some changes by implementing new revenue streams such as a solar initiative that will save the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars over the next decade. We need to continue to find ways to drive revenue, control costs and cut spending.
FOWLER: We’re at a critical point now where people no longer see Middletown as livable. Homeowners are really in a crisis, and I really want to help these people. My children went all through Middletown public schools and cannot afford to buy a house in Middletown. It’s my vision to restore this town to what it was — a reliable and affordable place to live and for tomorrow’s generation to enjoy quality education and to be free of excessive debt burden.
GRENAFEGE: I’m a critical thinker and I really do take an outside the-box approach when exploring an issue or a problem. I really try to look at it differently. Most importantly, I really care about the quality of life for all the residents in Middletown. I have regularly attended township meetings since 2005 because I do care, I do show up and I do speak out. I see that as a qualifier. I’ve been at this for years now as a citizen. I’m engaged in the process.
MURRAY: I’ve been on various boards practicing fiscal discipline, and I own a small press. I’ve been able to put a lot of that financial discipline into practice.
Q. Are there any other issues facing Middletown that you specifically want to address?
FIORE: COAH [Council on Affordable Housing] is a major hurdle that affects Middletown more than any other town. I oppose any development that’s forced upon the township under the guise of COAH regulations. We must protect open space through acquisition when possible and continue to preserve it. We must also continue to pressure the Democrat controlled Assembly and Senate to abolish the mandates forcing towns like Middletown into developing precious open space. We need to fight against these COAH regulations that we are forced to comply with even though they don’t really apply to Middletown.
FOWLER: I would explore more shared services opportunities between the township and the Board of Education, like consolidating all maintenance of public property in the town under one body. Money could be saved by eliminating health benefits for appointees to our sewerage authority. Law firms that make money on public work but also direct work that is very valuable to other professionals can be put on notice that Middletown deserves to not be fleeced by hourly fee attorneys and engineers.
GRENAFEGE: I think it’s critical to create a bipartisan finance committee. I would look at revitalizing the recreation program. We made a $400,000 investment in a master plan a few years ago that is collecting dust. I would advocate for a strategic planning committee, a vision and a mission from a longview perspective. I would advocate televising Township Committee meetings. We also need to start looking at how we can create a revenue stream, which means having a lot of conversations with the business community.
MURRAY: We need to protect open space. I’d like to keep the public as informed as possible about our energies directed toward our legislators in Trenton to get results that improve various quality-of-life issues which are not in our control at the municipal level — COAH being a main concern. We need to find some incentives to bring in businesses and stabilize our tax base and real estate values.