4eddade7c048ebc77fe0250f955d56a2.jpg

HIGHTSTOWN: Three Borough Council candidates compete at forum

Fourth candidate declines to participate

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
   HIGHTSTOWN — Three of the four candidates running for Borough Council participated in a forum on Oct. 24.
   The League of Women Voters of East Windsor-Hightstown hosted the Candidate Night at the Hightstown High School media center.
   The event featured forums with Hightstown Borough Council candidates and school board candidates for the East Windsor Regional School District School.
   Hightstown Borough Council candidates participating for the two, three-year positions, were Gail Doran, a Democratic incumbent, newcomer Denise “Denny” Hansen, a Republican, and Larry Quattrone, an incumbent Democratic who serves as council president.
   Republican George Serrano opted not to participate in the forum.
   Deborah Macmillan, president of the local League, welcomed all attendees who wished to learn more about the upcoming election and candidates.
   ”(The League) encourages an informed and active participation in government,” Ms. Macmillan said. “It works to increase understanding on major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy.”
   Mr. Serrano gave the Herald a letter to the editor stating his reasons for not participating last week, calling the League partisan.
   ”The local League has proven to be partisan,” Mr. Serrano stated.
   A response letter written by Ms. Macmillian was also submitted to the Herald. Both are featured in this week’s Town Forum, Page 4A.
   Ms. Macmillian said on Wednesday, “For now I was just reiterate that the League, including this League, has been known for many years — as it is known today — for our fair and impartial forum giving all candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves and get their opinions across to voters.”
   The forum was moderated by Karen Siracusa, a League-trained moderator from West Windsor, who asked questions from the League and also took questions that were handed in by the audience.
   Audience members included council members Robert Thibault and Susan Bluth, Business Administrator Michael Theokas, Planning Board members Steve Misiura and Fred Montferrat, Environmental Commissioner Barbara Jones, candidate spouses and others.
   The forum started with opening remarks from the candidates. Councilwoman Doran began.
   ”My day job is a high school teacher science teacher in Monmouth County,” said council member Gail Doran, who serves as the council’s liaison to the Planning Board and Environmental Commission. “I teach Honor Physics to juniors. Prior to teaching I had a long career as a physicist with Bell Labs and Corning Incorporated. I worked in Research and Development. I was also a trained project manager.”
   Last year she was elected to fill a one-year unexpired seat on the Democratic ticket, defeating Republican Serrano. Last October, Mr. Serrano did participate in the League forum.
   ”I’m proud to serve Hightstown and I look forward to the opportunity tonight to discuss in some depth what has been happening in the last year and what my goals are for the future,” Ms. Doran said.
   On the Republican ticket, Ms. Hansen is a Philadelphia native who moved to New Jersey 30 years ago. She moved to Hightstown in Oct. 2005.
   ”We renovated, landscaped and settled in and made Hightstown our home,” Ms. Hansen said.
   ”As a member of a prominent hotel company corporate team I held a position of Director of Finance where I was responsible for the financial performance of several hotels in the Northeast,” Ms. Hansen. “I had a thirty year career in hotel financial management and now work as an independent accounting professional.”
   ”As I walk and knock on doors all over Hightstown, I hear a common theme – high increasing property taxes and declining home values,” Ms. Hansen said.
   Council President Quattrone is running for re-election for the 13th year.
   ”As a resident of 61 years and a local businessman of 49 years and a parent of watching three children going through the local educational systems,” Mr. Quattrone said. “I’m very passionate about Hightstown and its residents. Motivated by nothing other than the success of Hightstown and dedicated to whatever it takes.”
   League question: Princeton Borough and Township have undergone consolidation in the last year or so. What if any relevance do you see for Hightstown in this experience or what other experience do you think is relevant to Hightstown considerations of consolidation?
   ”Princeton Township and Princeton Borough ran a very organized, intensive educational campaign for the residents,” said Ms. Hansen.
   ”They made a mark for New Jersey and showed that consolidation was possible between two good sized municipalities,” Ms. Hansen said. “It sounds like a successful endeavor. They are currently electing a mayor. I think it’s a great example of a well done consolidation effort for the State of New Jersey.”
   ”Princeton Township and Princeton Borough are very unique the way (they are) laid out,” Mr. Quattrone said. “They set a fine example for the rest of New Jersey. The residents of New Jersey are keeping a close eye on it.”
   ”The amount of debt that we have makes it kind of tough for Hightstown and East Windsor to consolidate,” Mr. Quattrone said. “I believe the State can step in and work the numbers a little bit. I believe it could happen and it would benefit Hightstown and East Windsor. That’s down the road a little ways.”
   ”Princeton is going to be a real big stepping stone for the State,” Mr. Quattrone said.
   ”As far as being one of the flagship efforts for consolidation, that’s important to us,” Ms. Doran said. “As far as being a model for how we might do it, I think it is not relevant. They were communities roughly the same size, same socioeconomic base, very much a homogenous group to begin with so it didn’t seem it didn’t seem like so much of a step.”
   ”The fact that consolidation is starting to happen with some towns is a very good sign because I believe that we will inevitability have to consolidate,” Ms. Doran said. “That’s a ways down the road and there’s going to have to be incentives in place in order to happen with a tiny town like Hightstown and a much bigger surrounding suburban area.”
   League to candidates: Please explain your understanding of whether or how Hightstown should consider the flood plain in relationship to where Borough Hall should stand if it is rebuilt or replaced.
   ”This is a subject we have been working on ever since Irene,” Mr. Quattrone said. “Flood Plain, flood lines, flood maps too bad the water doesn’t follow those. I mean the water comes you have a pretty good guess of where it is gonna go and how high it is gonna be. It’s not carved in stone. It may trick you at times.”
   ”I think Irene probably did us a favor,” Mr. Quattrone said. “It devastated a lot of things but it opened up some thought on the Mill Property and I said this probably a few times I think that Borough Hall should go on high ground. It should be somewhere else. I mean I don’t think there is a person in this room who would build a $3 million home in a flood zone. It’s just my opinion from day one that somebody is going to have to really, really try hard to convince me that it is better to go a different way.”
   ”That sounded harsher to me than it was probably meant,” Ms. Doran said. “Irene did not do us a favor and if you were one of the unfortunate people who were flooded in Irene, I don’t think anyone saw it as a favor.”
   ”I believe we should rebuild Borough Hall, not relocating it,” Ms. Doran said. “The flood maps indicate that the Borough Hall property are nearly in the 500 year flood zone, not the 100 year. The older maps had it differently.”
   ”Now does nature follow statistics?” Ms. Doran asked. “No, but it is a pretty good guideline. It’s a better guideline than anything else.”
   ”Every business in town that was flooded rebuilt and reopened,” Ms. Doran said. “One of the tenants moved out but has been replaced by another like tenant. The firehouse was up and running within what three weeks and they are between the Borough Hall and Rocky Brook. I think we can refurbish Borough Hall, get our offices back in there with a cost effective and timely fashion.”
   ”I hear on the doorstep ‘Why are we even discussing it even being in a flood zone?” Ms. Hansen asked.
   ”We need our Borough Hall to be accessible,” Ms. Hansen said. “There shouldn’t even be a discussion about what the options are. The option to leave it there is just crazy to me.”
   ”I can’t see them rebuilding anything in that flood zone,” Ms. Hansen said.
   Thursday, eagle eyes posted on www.windsorhightsherald.com, let’s see what this coming storm has in store for the downtown area, as to the future of the Borough Hall.