Oceanport Council Candidateqs
Incumbent, three newcomers vie for two council seats
William Johnson Mohawk Avenue

Republican

William Johnson

Oceanport Borough Council candidate William Johnson said last week that his service on the borough's Recreation Committee was a steppingstone in his decision to run for council in November.

While serving on the committee, Johnson said he saw firsthand the mismanagement of the Blackberry Bay Park project and knew it was time to get involved in borough business.

"It was a lack of supervision from the start," Johnson said in an interview last week.

"If you are spending a half-million dollars on a project, you should get your money's worth," he said. "From the very beginning, the park design was inefficient and the pitch of drainage for the fields was incorrect.

"I was frustrated with the current administration for not doing anything to rectify the situation," he said.

Johnson has been an Oceanport resident for the past 14 years and while he has never served on council, wants to be involved as the borough moves ahead on issues.

One of those includes the future of Fort Monmouth.

"I don't think the current administration is being proactive enough," he said. "We have to hire a planner to map out what Oceanport would like to see done. You can't just be dictated to by the state. I want plans in place for some kind of commercial mixed-use there."

The independent broker said he wants to bring a new perspective to the table.

"We need to be aggressive with shared services," Johnson said. "It always is a great sound bite, but we really have to reach out and see what we can do to save money for the taxpayers."

Most important, Johnson said, he wants to preserve the face of Oceanport.

"We need to put more qualified people on our land-use boards," he said. "There seems to be a lack of enforcement, and that results in a problem with overdevelopment. Every parcel of Oceanport does not have to be developed."