Shrewsbury incumbents running unopposed
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

Siciliano

SHREWSBURY - Mayor Emilia Siciliano is not ready to retire. She is running for a third term along with two incumbent council members, Donald Burden and Terel Cooperhouse.

Siciliano is running for a four-year term and the councilmen are running for three-year terms on the six-member council.

Siciliano, a Shrewsbury resident for 48 years, has served as mayor for the past eight years, and was first appointed to the council in 1968. She was the first woman elected to the borough council and served as a council member for 10 years.

She has also served on the Planning Board on and off for at least 22 years, she said.

Siciliano said last week that the borough's COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) obligation, for 284 affordable housing units, is the most important issue facing Shrewsbury right now. She added that it is difficult to comply with that number because of a regulation that the only housing that can be counted toward the obligation has to have been built after 1988.

"We have many existing affordable houses that would qualify, but they were built before 1988," she said.

She added that the borough has been listing every inch of property that has become available in the housing element for affordable housing and is developing an overlay zoning map.

Siciliano said she is also very concerned about the impact of any reuse plan for Fort Monmouth because of the impact of traffic on Sycamore Avenue and Route 35.

She added that the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority has to submit plans by 2007.

"I'm going to ask if there are any plans to develop a subcommittee to evaluate the traffic impact on the region. Shrewsbury Borough would like to be a part of that," she said.

Among the accomplishments of the past three years, she counts the completion of the new fire house on Route 35.

Councilman Terel Cooperhouse is also looking forward to the opening of the new firehouse.

He has served on the borough council for eight or nine years, having been named to fill an unexpired term. A Samara Drive resident, he works as the director of occupational health for the New York Times.

He serves as council president and as the council's representative on the Planning Board.

Cooperhouse said he feels good about the fact that the Borough Council has been able to put together a sound budget and business/capital plan for the borough.

He said he was chairman of the building committee and saw the completion of the municipal building during his last term as well as the pending completion of the fire house.

"Our infrastructure is better than it's ever been because of road improvements and providing exceptional municipal services to our residents."

He said the council is trying to keep property taxes down by entering into shared services agreements with surrounding towns and the Shrewsbury Board of Education.

Burden feels that his most important achievement to date has been serving as council chair of the Fire and First Aid Committee and as one member of the three-person Fire House Committee.

Burden said he was also instrumental in securing a new ambulance which is expected to be delivered in December.

He has lived in the borough since 1976 and currently lives on Sycamore Avenue. He is the director of marketing services for McGraw-Hill Higher Education in New York City and has served in various capacities with the company for more than 25 years.

He has served on the Shrewsbury Shade Tree Commission, the Shrewsbury Board of Education, and as president of the Shrewsbury Historical Society. He is also the chair of the historic Wardell House Committee.

"The two challenges facing the borough in the next three years will be to secure and preserve some of the remaining open space in Shrewsbury and sparing the community increased tax burdens," he said.