3 Takeaways From Chatham Township's Committee Candidate Debate

CHATHAM, NJ — Candidates for two seats on the Chatham Township Committee faced off at the Chatham Township Municipal Building on Wednesday at a debate co-hosted by the League of Women Voters.

Incumbents Chatham Mayor Ashley Felice and Deputy Mayor Mark Hamilton are seeking re-election and will be challenged in November by Democrats Jen Rowland and Marty McHugh.

The nearly two-hour-long debate drew all four candidates, who answered questions submitted both in advance and on index cards written by members of the public.

During the forum, there was no audience participation allowed, but all questions posed to the candidates were generated by members of the public and screened by the League to eliminate duplicates and personal attacks.

Each candidate had two minutes for opening statements, 60 seconds for answering questions, 30 seconds for rebuttals and two minutes for closing statements.

Three Main Takeaways From The Debate:

Taxes

Candidates were asked to comment on how they would maintain no tax increases while not cutting services from the township budget in the next few years. In response, both Felice and Hamilton noted that they have already been doing that for the last two years, saying that they have even managed to increase services without raising taxes.

Rowland commented that the township might not be using all the available grants that they could, which could help remove some of the burden from the community. Hamilton made a point of discussing how salary costs make up a large portion of the budget, and both Rowland and McHugh said that Chatham had a large community of residents willing to volunteer.

Rowland stated that an increase in volunteers could perhaps free time from salary workers, allowing them to find more cost-saving measures and additional grant funds.

Following the budget discussions, Hamilton made a comment, stating that certain members in the debate were using phrases such as "We don't want to raise taxes" and "We're going to try and keep taxes as low as possible" and that residents should pay attention to those answers.

In response, Rowland asserted that it was easy for certain members to claim that they were going to maintain a zero tax rate when "you move the money around so that you can enable yourself to take money out of certain funds that are earmarked for certain things and use them as operating expenses."

Shared Services:

When asked about the concept of shared services with the borough, the candidates spoke of the community library and the joint recreation agreement. Last summer, the Chatham Township and Chatham Borough local governments decided to renegotiate certain aspects of the town's Joint Recreation Program.

Negotiations began as a result of the Chatham Township Committee's decision to hire Larry McCann as a new and separate Recreation Director outside the prior shared services agreement.

McHugh called the process a "disaster," to which Felice and Hamilton ardently disagreed.

"We obviously support all of our shared services, including recreation; however, like all of our agreements, they should be audited. They should be researched and revisited for effectiveness, efficiency and cost. Thanks to the renegotiation, it saved us a lot of money," Felice said.

In response, McHugh disagreed with the claim that the township saved money with the new agreement. "When you hire an employee for the township specifically, that is that much greater than no director at all," McHugh said.

Rowland stated that shared services were important to the town, but that those relationships needed to be built on trust with the borough.

"We're both Chathams; all our kids go to school together, all our kids play sports together. There should have been conversations… To my understanding, it took 18 months, and I'm not sure that the contract was that significantly different, except we hired a rec director for double the salary that was previously being paid," Rowland said.

Hamilton then noted that the township did try to discuss negotiations with the borough in private conversations that preceded the township pulling out of the joint recreation agreement last year.

When speaking about the library, all four candidates said that they agreed that the library needed to be protected by the town but that it needed to be funded in a fiscally responsible way. Both Hamilton and McHugh stated that it should be the responsibility of the borough and the township.

Affordable Housing

The four candidates were asked to discuss their positions on affordable housing and how they plan to keep overdevelopment out of the township.

In her response, Felice noted that one of the main problems facing the township and other municipalities around the state regarding affordable housing was Governor Phil Murphy's failure to appoint members to the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH).

Felice argued that her administration's push to reinstate COAH would allow the township to know exactly how many units it would have to build, rather than waiting to be sued by the Fair Share Housing Center.

Both Felice and Hamilton said that the best way to deal with affordable housing in the meantime was to make sure that the township was fulfilling all of its requirements with the Fair Share Housing Center.

Rowland, who stated that the township needed to prioritize planning ahead in regard to affordable housing, criticized the legal action, saying that "it sounds expensive." In response, Hamilton argued, alleging that by using the town's specialized affordable housing attorney, the town was able to save money.

McHugh added that, while the township may not know how many units it would be required to create, affordable housing is a statutory requirement, and that the town should prioritize planning out what land is available for them to develop on.

"We have a wonderful opportunity now to plan ahead," Rowland said.

McHugh also mentioned that the township used to have an affordable housing advisory council, which was disbanded since it was a useful way to receive public feedback on future projects.

Felice stated that the decision to dismantle that group was made on the advice of their legal team, who highlighted that since COAH was disbanded, the community no longer had the option of picking any area in town for affordable housing.

Hamilton also stated that keeping an affordable housing advisory committee would not serve the town. "Having an unchecked, unelected committee out there, meeting on their own, keeping minutes, and talking about where there is opportunity for affordable housing in this community was not a good idea."

McHugh argued that the advisory committee would simply be a way to have residents involved and provide their thoughts. "An advisory committee is for advice and input from the community about what is acceptable. They are not taking control and taking the legal authority to make decisions; they are contributing as residents of the town."

The debate was live-streamed on YouTube and has been posted to the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area, YouTube page. To view the entire debate, click here.