Politics & Government

Flooding, Taxes, Integrity Dominate Wayne Candidate Forum

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Ward candidates discuss issues and answer questions at forum.

Township Council hopefuls told voters their thoughts about taxes, flooding and integrity in government at a candidates forum Thursday night.

Candidates answered questions submitted by audience members and the League of Women Voters (LWV). The LWV ran the event.

Gary Marchese Sr. and Alan Purcell, an incumbent, are the 1st Ward candidates. Ray Egatz and Al Sadowski, also an incumbent, are the 2nd Ward candidates. Franco Mazzei, a Republican, and Matthew Gioradano are running to represent the 3rd Ward.

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Marchese, Egatz and Gioradano are Democrats. Giordano was not able to attend the meeting.

Mazzei and Giordano are running to replace Gerard Porter, who is not seeking re-election. All terms are for four years.

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The forum was to be held in the council chamber and broadcast live on cable channel 77, but was moved to Wayne Valley High School because the board of education was meeting in the chamber. The LWV recorded the event and will request that it be played on the channel as often as possible.

Finding a permanent solution to increased flooding is a priority, the candidates said.

“This administration has taken acres and acres of floodplains and zoned them for apartment buildings,” Egatz said, noting that Democrats will immediately rezone the land if elected.

Purcell said that if elected he will continue to call for a permanent solution to flooding.

Marchese he was “very disappointed” with how the town responded to Hurricane Irene.

The American Red Cross was supposed to assist the town in setting up a shelter for flood victims, but was unable to. As a result, the town set up a shelter later than initially planned. Residents criticized officials for it.

“We will never again let our residents be stranded for weeks in their cars,” Egatz said.

Four of the five candidates said taxes are the number one issue in Wayne. Egatz said integrity in government is the number one issue.

Purcell said officials have been making “bare bones cuts” to the budget. He said it is not the increase in municipal taxes that has been driving residents’ tax bills up, it is the increase in county taxes.

Egatz said that having members of two political parties in power ensures checks and balances exist to keep tax increases from occurring. He also said that if elected, Democrats have pledged not to vote for any budget that “has any municipal tax increase to it.”

Mazzei, a member of the board of education, said the board and the council formed a subcommittee to examine ways of sharing services and lowering taxes.

All the candidates spoke about eliminating pay-to-play and conflicts of interest and stressed more integrity in local government.

“If I ever found corruption in Wayne, I would fight it, but there isn’t any,” Purcell said.

Sadowski mentioned recently-approved legislation requiring all township employees, as well as elected and appointed officials, to sign an annual ethics pledge.

“No other town in the state requires that,” Sadowski said.

 


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