Hillsborough Committee Primary Candidate: Roger E. Koch

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough's preliminary election on June 8 has four candidates running for three open seats on the Township Committee. Roger E. Koch is one of two Democratic candidates running.

Koch currently serves as a lawyer. He previously served as Vice President of the Governing Board of Directors on the Glen Condominium Association.

Koch is married to his wife Amy and has two kittens Rusty Jr. and Molly. He has a B.A. from Rutgers University and J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.

Are you running for office in Hillsborough? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements.

Roger E. Koch

Why are you seeking to run for the township committee?

I believe my skills, experience, and passion will make a difference to town residents. I became a lawyer in my mid-thirties to pursue a long-held inclination to use my competitive spirit to fight as an advocate for those treated unfairly. I attended law school during the evening while working during the day. I graduated from Seton Hall University Law School, cum laude with honors in 1990. Now I want to champion our township’s residents’ interests through my service on the Township Committee as I have for my clients as a lawyer. I want to be their voice on the Township Committee.

How would you address the affordable housing issues/overdevelopment in Hillsborough?

Many residents in Hillsborough are concerned about the recent increase in apartment complexes being built throughout the town, and with the overcrowded feel of all these large developments created in such a short period of time without planning for schools, traffic and other public services. All these housing units will also lead to a large increase in our population that will unavoidably strain our budget and increase taxes to provide the necessary public services.

So why did the Republican members of the Township Committee, including current candidate Shawn Lipani, authorize building thousands more housing units than the few hundred affordable units required by law?

They want us to believe it was all because of the affordable housing each town is required to make available because of the ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court. That is the law and regardless of whether you like or dislike it, we must comply with it, Lipani and the other Republican Committee members put off planning to comply with it until the court forced them to finally rush to submit a plan after years avoiding appropriate planning.

Instead, I and Committeeman Wright would have planned wisely in a timely manner to so that we could comply with the law without harming our community with all the overdevelopment the Republican plan has created.

The law does not require any town to rely on private developers to build thousands more profitable housing units than required in order to meet their affordable unit obligation. Private developers, not the law, demanded authority from the township to 3 to 4 times as many market priced units as affordable ones. Therefore, the overdevelopment is not caused by the few hundred affordable units required by law, but rather by the thousands of market priced units, the Republican controlled Township Committee chose as its means to satisfy the law. We question why they made that choice which is going to unavoidably hurt our community.

There are other ways to build affordable units and many towns do it by mostly working with non-profit developers who will agree to build only the legally required affordable units. The Township did use one non-profit developer but only to build a small number of the legally required units. The Republican members of the Township Committee told the public they could not find any other non-profit developers to build affordable units. Should we believe this on their word alone?

I want to know whether there was consultation with other non-profit developers, or organizations that offer guidance on how to find and use non-profit developers to reduce the overdevelopment that results from using mostly private developers. Were there requests for various sources of funding from the State to assist nonprofit developers to build 100% affordable units? My campaign intends to do that research and learn if there were specific better ways to build the affordable units without harming the rest of the community with unnecessary overdevelopment.

Diversity is largely talked about in the township and country. How do you feel about the current status of the township in terms of diversity?

I think taking advantage of the contributions that many members of our diverse community can provide to help make our town a better place to live for all of us is acting in our own self-interest. By including more of those people who may have been excluded we will be able to benefit from their knowledge and skills the town government has overlooked. I have observed that some of the important committees and boards appointed by the Township Committee do not include all the diverse members of our community.

For example, on the important township Planning Board, its members consist of only Republican white men who are single family homeowners. There is not a woman, a Democrat or an Unaffiliated voter, man or woman of color, or a member who lives in a condominium or townhouse development. By not including all these members of our community, the Planning Board not only does not resemble our community, it also is prevented from incorporating the viewpoints and concerns of all our community. For these reasons I am in favor of helping ourselves by assuring our Township Committee includes those members of our diverse community that the currently have been overlooked.

What other issues do you feel must be tackled in town?

• Taxes: I oppose giving tax breaks to developers and other profitable businesses which leaves the rest of us to pay a greater share of taxes and permits these profitable businesses to avoid paying their fair share. This can shortchange funds needed to educate the children of our town. For example, Shawn Lipani recently refused to designate our schools to receive the same 66% proportion of a negotiated “PILOT,” (payment in lieu of taxes) that is customarily allocated from ordinary tax payments. On top of that, the Township Committee does not disclose in our State mandated User Friendly Budget, each individual tax break or abatement granted, leaving us in the dark about who received the abatement, why they received it, the amount of taxes not collected, and where the remaining amount of taxes, will be used after collected. This practice is just another example of the Republican Township Committee members failing to the tell us the truth. And finally, let’s all be realistic and look at our tax bills over the last several years. The Republicans repeatedly tell us that they have kept the rate of taxes from increasing. However, they do not also acknowledge that they have not kept the dollar amount of each of our tax bills from increasing during the years they have controlled the Township Committee. The Township Committee is responsible for approving any increase in our taxes. So, if you’re unhappy with the way your taxes have gradually increased each year, do not keep electing the people who have raised them and expect anything different to occur.
• Truth In Local Government: Truth is an essential foundation for serving the interests of the public. We deserve nothing less in Hillsborough. If elected Jeff Wright and I can promise the community we will do our part to truthfully disclose to the community what the Township Committee is doing or failing to do for all of us, which will help us all feel more certain our Committee members are working for our best interest. I recently observed an example of the Republican members of our Township Committee inexplicably choosing not to be truthful at the April 13, 2021 Committee’s meeting. This reinforced doubts about the Republicans being honest with us in disclosing their actions and inactions. Right before my eyes, Lipani and all the other Republican Committee members in attendance, for some reason, knowingly made obviously untruthful statements in response to a proposal by Committeeman Wright, the only Democrat now serving on the Committee. They used false excuses for not even considering his proposal to explore whether bias excluded some of our diverse citizens from participating in Township government. They claimed that the Municipal Alliance was already working on bias issues and accused Committeeman Wright of not being aware of that, In fact, there were ample sources of written material on the town’s web page regarding the mission of the Municipal Alliance and in the Committee’s own resolution and proclamation at this meeting, to contradict the Committee members' claims about the Municipal Alliance’s purpose. These Republican Committee members argued that the Alliance worked on bias prevention, even though Mr. Wright and myself pointed out that its purpose is to prevent alcohol and drug abuse, not bias. As a result of their behavior, I realized how easily and practiced Lipani and all the other Republican Committee members were at making untruthful statements, in order to attempt to deceive Committeeman Wright, myself and the entire community. It made me and probably the community doubt that we can ever trust them to tell us the truth in the future on public matters when we may not have their own written material to prove they are being untruthful again. This unfortunate incident is more fully addressed in a Democratic Facebook page posting including a video of Shawn Lipani’s comments (https://fb.watch/5fTI9KOoQZ/).

What sets you apart from the incumbent Republicans?

I want to represent all the people of the town. Republican Township Committee members don’t. Instead they focus on addressing the wishes of their Republican voters, campaign contributors, and their own self-interests. By doing so, the Republicans exclude the interests of the rest of us in the community. The Township Committee must diligently listen to and represent all the members of our community. As I mentioned above, if elected, I will listen to the wishes of the entire community in my position on the Township Committee.

What else would you like to share about yourself or your campaign?

I would be honored to serve and will work hard to make Hillsborough a better place for everyone to live. I hope you’ll vote for me and Jeffrey Wright for Township Committee.

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