HOWELL – Six residents are running for three four-year terms on the Howell Township Council in the Nov. 6 election. The winners will serve from January 2019 through December 2022.
Republican council members Robert Nicastro and Pauline Smith are not seeking re-election.
The candidates are Democrats John Bonevich, Kristal Dias and Paul Dorato, and Republicans Bob Walsh, Pamela J. Richmond and Thomas Russo. See a separate article for profiles of the Republican candidates.
Bonevich, Dias and Dorato said they want to support Democratic Mayor Theresa Berger in her efforts to make Howell a productive and sustainable community for business owners and families.
Bonevich has lived in Howell for 24 years. He owns BonSolid Promotions, which specializes in event planning, and a media marketing company, Your Target Marketing.
Bonevich said he became inspired to run for a seat on the council when he got involved in a local issue and started a petition drive that amassed 1,300 registered voters’ signatures “and the council just ignored them and that led me to sue the town.”
A state Superior Court judge eventually ruled in Howell’s favor in that legal issue.
“I just see it numerous times over and over, like the (proposed) dump (solid waste transfer facility on Randolph Road); on West Farms Road with high density developments. I kind of feel like the council has lost touch with the residents and I want to restore that. I am a big listener and I am a fighter,” Bonevich said.
The West Farms Road project calls for the construction of nine two-story buildings containing a total of 72 apartments. All of the apartments will qualify as affordable housing and will be rented at below market rates to individuals and families whose income meets certain guidelines.
Bonevich said complaints being voiced by residents led him to believe the council members have “lost their way.”
“I definitely want to address that we need to follow the master plan and not rezone from the council. I disagree with what they have done in the past when they rezoned, for instance, with West Farms,” he said. “I feel like there are a lot of people who put a lot of time into (the master plan), they are volunteers, they put in a lot of hours. They are not just doing it hastily. I would really like to stick to the master plan and preserve more open space.
“I will listen to the residents and I will fight for the residents. … just like residents all around town, I feel like the council turned a blind eye. I am running for the residents and I work for the residents, I am not going to work for the developers,” Bonevich said.
Dias has lived in Howell for 20 years and is employed by Ocean Health Initiatives, where Berger is the president and CEO. Dias said different things inspired her to run, but it was mostly her family.
“I have three children growing up in Howell and being a single parent, I struggle to make ends meet and property taxes have gone awry. I am looking at all this over-development going around and I keep looking around and saying ‘Is this what I want for my children as they get older and they have families of their own?’ So that is something I want to see, them being able to really enjoy living here and really wanting to stay here,” Dias said.
She said another factor that inspired her to run for office was the community.
“Because I go to these council meetings and I hear people trying to voice their opinions and I feel that sometimes, if not all, people are dismissed and I do not think that is right. I think they should be heard, I think they should be listened to and (government should) try to find solutions for the issues some of them are feeling they have,” Dias said.
Dias said one issue she wants to address is taxes.
“I want to make sure (taxes) are stabilized so we do not have out-of-control taxes that we see going up and up each year. I want to make sure we are being very smart with how we spend the money in the township as far as the budget goes, and try to find out if there are gaps there. If there is duplication of services can we fix it so we maintain a quality of life for our residents where they can afford to live here and stay here,” Dias said.
“I have heard complaints about all the empty buildings in Howell and (people ask) why are we developing land that was open space (instead of) developing the closed buildings, the empty buildings that just stand there on Route 9,” she said.
Dorato owns Sierra Packaging and has lived in Howell for 13 years. He said some of the issues that have been facing the township inspired him to run for office.
“The problem we had with the West Farms Road affordable housing (development) was the 30-year payment in lieu of taxes agreement which is pretty much what got me started and since I started going to council meetings, it has been the over-development and the (proposed) solid waste transfer station,” Dorato said.
Resource Engineering has proposed establishing a solid waste transfer station on Randolph Road in Howell that would accept 1,500 tons per day of cleanup debris and construction debris for sorting, removal of recyclable materials and subsequent transfer to an out-of-state facility for final disposal.
Dorato said that moving forward, he wants to address smarter development.
“We want to stabilize property taxes and we have to make some kind of stand on that solid waste transfer station, to fight that as much as possible because I do not think that is going away,” he said. “We have a different philosophy, I have more of a business background so I want to look at things from that perspective and because we are not politicians, we are regular residents. We are looked at as regular residents doing this and that is what I think people are really looking for.”
