Meet The 2019 Mendham Borough Council Candidates

MENDHAM, NJ — There is a contested election for Mendham Borough Council this fall, and Patch caught up with the candidates ahead of the general election.

We asked all candidates the same five questions:

1. Why are you running for office?
2. What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?
3. What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)?
4. What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?
5. What inspires you?

All candidates were sent the questions at the same time, and were given the same deadline to submit them. They were given no minimum or maximum word count, and encouraged to write as much as they needed, or to keep the answers brief if they wanted to. Answers were submitted by email and are presented here as submitted.

Mary Sue Martin, Republican

Why are you running for office?

I want to make a difference in my community because this town has been great for my family. We moved to Mendham when our son was entering Kindergarten and he’s now off at RIT. Now that he’s there I know just how good the schools in Mendham are.

What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?

Taxes and property values need to be maintained in the town. I see the best approach to solving is by cost containment and improved efficiencies – by example the Boro has saved a considerable amount of funds by sharing courts with Washington Township. And also looking for additional tax revenues in our business district.

What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)?

I’ve been involved in my community on a multifaceted level for over a decade, from schools, to church, youth sports, and scouting. I know that I understand what families are looking for in their home town.

What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?

We’ll continue to expand our social media to share with residents what happening around town.

What inspires you?

I enjoy connecting with people but also having a recent WMMHS grad go off to college (5 hours away) and knowing that he misses his home town and the friends that he grew up with says a ton about this town.

Melissa Young, Democrat

Why are you running for office?

I believe that we need different perspectives on the Council to make Mendham Borough as desirable as it can be. I’m frustrated that there has been a single party running this town for the last 25 years and I believe it’s time to bring a new voice to the Council so we can encourage discussion and find innovative solutions to the challenges our town has.

What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?

Mendham Borough is struggling with attracting and keeping businesses, the real estate market seems stagnant, and we need to enhance our environmental responsibility with things like banning single use plastic. But in order to tackle any of these things, we need dynamic leadership to engage with the community and encourage frank conversations about the challenges we face and finding common sense solutions. We do this by ensuring access and transparency in our local government through things like open office hours for Council members and using social media to reach our residents where they are.

What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)?

Since moving to Mendham I have become increasingly involved in the community. I have shown my commitment to Mendham Borough through serving on many school committees, writing for Mendham Neighbors magazine and sitting on the Board of Health. My business background in sales, training, and strategic develop have helped me develop strong communication, analytical, and strategic thinking skills. I believe these attributes are needed on Council and I would be honored to have the opportunity to put them to use to help Mendham Borough thrive.

What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?

I have already taken steps to help facilitate communication with the community. In service of transparency and access, I’m proud to say that, despite resistance from the Council, we are recording meetings and they can be viewed on Mendham TV. We also need to make better use of the many different platforms residents use to get and share information. And as stated previously, I will hold open office hours for residents to come speak freely about their concerns and ideas for Mendham Borough.

What inspires you?

I think a lot about the world I want my kids to live in and I strive to bring kindness and connection to it.

James R. Kelly, Republican

Why are you running for office?

Mendham has been my home for my entire life and it’s a place I want to see continue to be vibrant for many families both new and current in town.

What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?

Improving our current infrastructure to keep it current with our growing needs. We are currently doing a 5 million dollar upgrade to the water reclamation facility. We will continue to try to escalate improvements on our roads and look at new technologies to make these improvements longer term.

What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)?

I was raised in this town, educated here, raised my family and built a business here. I’ve seen firsthand how this town was transformed from farms to a community and I believe it’s essential that we carefully plan for the future to maintain our history and our origins.

What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?

While we already have the Mendham Messenger that goes out once a month I think it’s important to connect the various organizations around town. This can be all types whether is the schools, the seniors group, the sports teams, church organizations and business association we need to find the right partners to facilitate interaction to share local events.

What inspires you?

My business is all about helping people. When they’re in trouble and can’t fix the issue themselves it’s satisfying to know I can come and fix the issue and get them back on track.

Laura Montenegro, Democrat

Why are you running for office?

I grew up in Mendham and moved back to raise my children. My love for this town and the lack of choice on our election ballots is what moved me to run. It would be an honor to use my skills in management, communication and innovation to serve the people of this community.

What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?

There is a decades long problem of having empty store fronts in Mendham Borough and despite small steps taken by the Mendham Business Association, there hasn’t been much improvement in recent years. There are things we can do to help.

Mendham is a walking community and there are plenty of inexpensive and effective ways to encourage visitors to stay for a while. Outdoor dining, cross walks that guide visitors to stores, and having visible signs indicating parking areas would help add a modern and friendly flair that can draw foot traffic without changing the historic look of our community or spending exorbitant amounts of money.

Secondly, Mendham needs transparency in our governing body. When Melissa Young, my running mate, attempted to bring video cameras into the Council meetings, she was met with resistance. The law allows the taping of these meetings and she was able to locate a camera person to tape the first meeting. For the next meeting, I was able to find a high school student to help and both of these meetings were aired on Mendham TV. Our Council has no intention of helping to organize a more reliable solution and the expectation is that Melissa and I will lose the election and they can return to closed business as usual.

Finally, there has been a change to the “Public Comments” section of the meetings. If a citizen wants to ask a question, the instruction from Council is to make a “comment only”. Questions, on the other hand, must be sent via email in advance of the council meeting for preparation. There are a couple of issues with this directive. First, this is the elected body of our government and townspeople have a right to ask direct questions to their elected officials and the Town Administrator, whom they pay with their own tax dollars. Secondly, if we want the members of the community to be engaged, we want to encourage them to attend the meetings or if unable, watch them on Mendham TV. This might inspire other in town to run for office or ask to serve on a Board.

The Mendham Borough Town Council represents the people of this community. It is not a private club. If elected, I would reinstitute the “Questions and Comments” section of the Council meetings. If we want citizens who participate on the local community Boards, we have to empower them.

What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)?

I began running for Mendham Borough Council and attending meetings in 2017, clearly showing my commitment and desire to serve this community.

I have a Master’s degree in Social work and years of experience with building new programs, measuring outcomes and managing people. I serve on the Board of Elders at Hilltop Church in Mendham on both Personnel and Membership. I am proud to serve on the Mendham Borough Board of Health.

I understand the human condition through one-on-one and family therapy. I also teach on a part-time basis at Rutgers in the School of Social Work. It is through this pedagogical experience I am able to share my knowledge while I also learn from my students. I bring empathy, resiliency and humility to everything I do. Sharing and working as part of a team is one my strengths and is needed to serve on a governing body. I will use all of these skills to help our community grow, fill and become, once again, the most desirable town in New Jersey.

What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?

We need to encourage community engagement and offer easy and varied ways for community members to participate. Mendham is an educated and talented community, from our young children to our oldest adults. Everyone has something they can bring to the table and I want to empower them to join us.

What inspires you?

People who spend their lives and their resources helping others.