Mayoral candidates see Oceanport at crossroads
A former member of the Borough Council is challenging incumbent Lucille Chaump for the mayoral seat

Lucille Chaump

- Christine Varno Lucille Chaump With two years of experience, Oceanport Mayor Lucille Chaump said she is seeking re-election to continue addressing the many ongoing issues facing the borough.

Such issues, Chaump said, are the closure of Fort Monmouth and the future of Monmouth Park.

"In the next four years, I want to work to preserve the neighborhoods of Oceanport and work to obtain more grants to save residents money," said Chaump, of Tecumseh Avenue. "It is also important to be proactive and protect our environment.

"I have the experience. I have been doing this for two years. I have the leadership qualities. I have the time to do this. As a mayor, you have to be accessible to the residents."

Chaump, a Democrat, was first sworn in to office as mayor in November 2005, after being appointed by council to fill the unexpired term of the late Mayor Maria Gatta.

She then went on to win the mayoral seat in the 2006 election against Councilwoman Ellynn Kahle to complete Gatta's one-year unexpired term.

Michael Mahon

"I served on council for two years before filling the unexpired term of the late Maria Gatta," Chaump said. "In 2003, when I ran for office [council] with the Gatta team, I offered the community my record of experience, commitment and accomplishments through my many years of volunteer work. I pledge to continue that service and dedication to Oceanport residents when reelected."

Chaump said she has been working to see that every decision made about the future of Fort Monmouth is in the best interests of residents.

"I sit on the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority, or FMERPA, for the fort," she said. "I have diligently participated in the economic revitalization process.

"I think it is very important for community input in this process. It is so important that the community provides input on how the land gets developed," she said.

As plans to close Fort Monmouth move forward, Oceanport is developing plans for some 420 acres of land at the fort that are situated within the borough.

"We have our own planner," she said. "That planner has been having public meetings with public participation on the plans for Fort Monmouth.

"As the mayor of Oceanport, I will make sure nothing is put into place without public input. That plan still has to go from the economic committee, then to the Planning Board, and then back to council before anything is finalized."

Chaump added, "I want to reassure residents that there is no final plan for Fort Monmouth in place. When there is a final plan, everyone will be invited to a meeting to discuss the final plan. There is no plan without community support," she added.

Chaump said she would like to see the site developed to meet the needs of the borough.

"It would have to be a downtown mixeduse area," she said. "There are many things in discussion, including a food store, a hotel, a medical campus, and a library.

"These are all things that the residents have come up with. There is also talk about residential and possibly age-restricted housing. It is a work in progress."

The other big issue, she said, is Monmouth Park racetrack and the future of the horse racing industry in the state of New Jersey.

"I have met with the governor, and he said that he is committed to keeping horse racing a sustainable industry," she said.

"We want Monmouth Park to stay and remain a racetrack. That is a quality-of-life issue," she said.

Chaump is a part-time teacher and has been a member of the Oceanport Board of Education for 11 years.

She said she is proud of her accomplishments while in office, adding that she is looking forward to the opportunity to continue working on unfinished business in the borough.

"The stabilization of taxes, protecting our environment, preserving open space and ensuring our quality of life in Oceanport are all ongoing issues that I have spent many hours on and will continue to focus on," she said.

"Increasing shared services, seeking more grants and passing legislation on ethics, which is our pay-to-play ordinance, are all accomplishments of which I am most proud while serving the borough.

"As a council member and as mayor, I worked … to ensure open and accountable and responsive government. We are being proactive now by taping our workshop minutes.

"And as far as the grants go, over the past four years, we have gotten more than $1.2 million in grants," she said.

As mayor, Chaump also appointed a blue ribbon panel of volunteers to study borough operations to help determine if there is a need for a borough administrator.

"By using volunteers, since Oceanport is made of many volunteers, it has saved money and has helped in providing a more efficient and effective government," she said.

Chaump also said that taxes are a hotbutton issue that every municipality is facing.

"We need to find a way to stabilize taxes," she said. "We need to look at more shared services so that our residents will be getting the same, if not better, services."

Chaump said going forward, the Borough Council must work as a team for the good of Oceanport.

"I think council members have to remember that when the election is over and come Jan. 1, we will be starting fresh and we need to work together," she said. "We need to learn that we can agree to disagree, and if you disagree then you need to bring it to the council table.

"That is where the problem lies, the discussions outside of council. We have to work together."

Michael Mahon Mayoral candidate and former Councilman Michael Mahon believes he can bring leadership and change to the borough if elected in November.

"I was unhappy with what was going on in the community with the current mayor and council," said Mahon, of Doreen Drive. "The borough [council] has taken a tremendous downward slide in working together. There has been an absence of leadership and no effort to overcome the politics."

Residents in the borough approached Mahon with similar concerns, he said, and he decided to challenge Mayor Lucille Chaump in the Nov. 6 mayoral election.

Mahon was elected in 2001 to serve a three-year term as councilman and said he has the experience to bring Oceanport government back to what it once was.

"While I was on council, there were some underlying disagreements," Mahon said. "It never digressed to the point it has been this past year. The primary consideration was always what was best for the borough," he said. "We need that back. We need leadership to reinforce why we are there.

"That it is not for personal attacks to personal agenda, and I know I can do that," he said.

Mahon said Oceanport is currently at a crossroads for the future as it is faced with issues such as the closure of Fort Monmouth and the future of Monmouth Park.

"No one wants to see the fort close," Mahon said. "There are steps we can take as a community to make a serious attempt to reverse this."

If keeping the fort open turns out to not be a possibility, Mahon said the borough needs to formulate a redevelopment plan that suits the character and the needs of the community.

He said he is opposed to the current plan being discussed by the borough that calls for 1,640 to 1,960 homes to be constructed on fort property that lies within borough boundaries.

"Oceanport has 2,100 households right now," he said. "To see the amount of households almost double the current density is going to be overwhelming. There needs to be a better balance of ratables, open space and residential uses. We are losing jobs, not homes, with the closing of the fort."

The borough's current plan includes a projection of 150 to 170 school-age students being generated from the construction of the new homes, according to Mahon.

"We have 2,100 households that produce 800 to 900 students," he said. "Those numbers are kind of puzzling and they seem on the low side. We need to look at what impact that would have on our school."

He proposed a plan that calls for the reuse and expansion of the current hightech buildings that already exist at the site as well as preserving open space.

"I do see residential there, but not at the scale it is currently being proposed," Mahon said.

Mahon also sees the future of Monmouth Park as a big issue.

"We have been very fortunate that Monmouth Park racetrack is a wonderful place for horse racing," he said. "We don't see the commitment at a state level to support racing. If we don't continue to provide a venue for horse racing, it will threaten the economy.

"We need to keep the track viable and we need to make sure that the state makes a commitment to the racetracks," he said.

Mahon, a Republican and a roadway manager for the Garden State Parkway, said as mayor he would also work to stabilize taxes.

"We have to provide good services, the needed services, and we have to provide them in a way that is efficient," Mahon said.

"Oceanport does a good job in providing efficient services. We need to find where we can continue the services and keep spending down," he said.

While on council, Mahon said the borough cut costs by changing its trash and recycling collection contracts.

"We decided to contract out so we didn't run into the problems with hiring extra personnel to meet the need and then have to worry about problems with pensions and health-care issues," Mahon said. "Those are the type of decisions you can make to keep the tax burden from going up."

Mahon said another way to cut spending is shared services. If elected, Mahon said he would propose an equipment-sharing pool with other municipalities. The pool would consist of occasional-use equipment that communities need once in a while and not every day, that could be shared among several towns.

"That is one way to provide resources without burdening taxpayers," he said.

Mahon said he has the skills and ability to bring the needed change to the borough.

"I have the ability to think outside the box," he said. "I can bring creative solutions to problems. I want to establish priorities. We can't all have a separate agenda. We represent the community."