FROM MAYOR KENNEDY O’BRIEN, OCTOBER, 2019
Being your Mayor was the honor you provided me for 20 years, and I took that responsibility very seriously in this wonderful town we call Home. Home is about the Friday night football games, breakfasts & lunches with our senior citizens, Little League opening day, and striving to build a fiscally sound, safe, secure community for all, so we may sleep a bit more soundly at night. I chose not to run for re-election this year after my wife’s cancer diagnosis, in order to be most present for her. Now, as I leave office, I am truly very concerned about our future, and about your ability as citizens to have a clear voice & full discussion on issues, particularly how your tax dollars are spent. My personal policy has been that of an open-door, as good government should do, allowing the best decisions to be made for the benefit & betterment of our town.
In Sayreville we have what is known as the weak mayor form of government, in which the Mayor is only allowed to vote in the event of a tie; thus it is the Borough Council which controls all the hiring, all tax monies, the tax rate, whose family members’ roads get paved, whose friends get hired, and most appointments to boards & commissions. So because for many years we have had one-party rule by Sayreville Democrats voting in a bloc, I have been denied a vote in the matters seriously and directly affecting you & your families. Things I had hoped to get accomplished for you have not come to be. All 6 Council seats belong to the Sayreville Democratic party. One-party rule is never good, as it lacks balance, which you have seen from the spending & hiring that has been going on. There is little to no discussion with you, the taxpayer, as you can see from televised Council meetings. Not a good situation. I could go on at length about what happens or, more importantly, what does not happen. As things stand right now, you do not have a voice. You have one-party control, and they can pretty much do whatever they want to do while collecting the salary you pay them. And we have seen the results, or more to the point, the lack of desirable results.
Honest, responsible leadership is about collaboration. It is providing accountability to residents, and showing a true & proven commitment to Sayreville and the voters who elected you to represent them. Without balance, the future will mean ever-increasing trading for votes, jobs, street paving, opportunities, contracted work, and that’s not good for Sayreville. You cannot, in good conscience, have 2 levels of service, one for those “on the inside” and another for those on the outside. It’s seriously bad government. No one should have their votes extracted in trade for service, jobs, work. We need representatives interested in working ONLY for you and no one else; thus I am proudly backing & recommending to you the team of Art Rittenhouse for Mayor, and Donna Roberts & Christian Hibinski for Council, and I ask you to join me in voting for this intelligent, talented, well-rounded and dedicated honorable team.
I have known Art Rittenhouse for decades. He is a gentleman, a man of profound character, complete honesty, and a fundamental belief in transparent government. A teacher for 12 years prior to entering a career in the business world, he has been dedicated to Sayreville, serving 10 years on the Board of Ed, and is now President of Sayreville Historical Society, Commissioner on the Housing Authority and Shade Tree Commission. In addition he is secretary & treasurer of the Arts and Education Center that runs Middlesex & Monmouth County Arts High School & NJ Teen Arts Festival. He has previously served most honorably a 3 year term on Council, a true representative of his constituents and deservedly earned the trust of the people. He is honest, thorough on researching the issues, and committed to the fiscal responsibility and careful, prudent spending necessary to help keep your taxes in check. It’s only logical: You simply do not spend money you cannot afford, and then tax the voters to cover you. He knows how to listen to people with serious attention to truly understand their issues & concerns, and then act on them. Like me, he believes when you serve the public, you are in the business of customer service, doing more with less as necessary. Services are to be purchased at the lowest possible cost to provide the best quality service possible and, like the people who elected you, you work within your budget. Art is an unquestionably good man with the highest caliber of ethical standards you deserve in the people you elect to serve you. He knows our residents and the challenges we face every day and will do the very best for you.
Donna Roberts works in IT support at MUFG Union Bank, where she has held positions in IT Release & Deployment, Auditing, and is Asst. VP in Disaster Recovery First Line of Defense. She is also a Microsoft Certified trainer, has also conducted training in communication and customer service, and has operated a small business. In her work she needs to quickly jump into new technical details in dealings with a broad range of people in meaningful ways. She is a willing and careful listener, and will give you the time and attention you deserve when you have questions and concerns. Her previous experience includes IT Support for Global News Management System, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, and Bell South. Donna grew up here, working during her student days at a local restaurant. She loves this town, she and her husband have chosen to stay here, and her priority is putting the needs of our residents over the desires of developers. She has seen the negative effects of the lack of balance on the Council with one-party rule, and wants to restore open & common sense government. It disturbs her that, although she has seen that additional tax base has been added, residents have had their property tax increase continually. Donna wants to curtail overbuilding, maintain & improve infrastructure, and provide true fiscal responsibility & accountability with rational control and true transparency regarding the spending of your tax dollars and hers. Her recent quote was, “We need value from our investments. Taxpayers are not a never-ending piggy bank.” Like the whole team, she is someone to be trusted, honest as the day is long, and dedicated to working for the good of Sayreville and its residents.
Christian Hibinski is a practicing attorney with degrees from Catholic University of America, Pace University, and Harvard Business School, and is focusing on civil litigation and government law. In his work, where he is involved on a daily basis in the intricate legal issues municipalities face, he is working with mayors & councils to ensure their municipalities are run properly & efficiently. He has experience in the Office of the Ocean County Prosecutor in Special Victims Unit & Trial Unit in addition to having worked for Assemblyman Craig Coughlin, Senator Joe Vitale, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, and Congressman Frank Pallone. He would provide his valuable experience in interpreting & drafting city codes, ordinances & resolutions and put this skill set to work for your benefit, ensuring the Borough of Sayreville is run as effectively as possible. He has seen that the system in place has not been as beneficial as it should be, and is diminishing. He wants to see that the right to a proper voice is given back to the people, and a bring balance to the monopolized, one-party Council that has failed to respectfully listen to the opinions & concerns of you, the residents. Like Art and Donna, Christian would apply common sense, rational policies in the spending of your tax dollars. He will address the need for transparency between the council and the public, the accessibility of elected officials and information, to ensure the residents are heard and informed, through streamlined communications. He believes people of differing minds should be willing to have honest discourse in their working for you the people, to have the successful, beneficial representation you deserve, and nothing less.
Sayreville is poised for good things to come. This is an election about your future and that of your families. It has been my distinct honor to serve you, and I am deeply grateful for your support over the years. Because of my concern for the future, I now ask you to please join me in voting for the team I trust to be the best for Sayreville, for you, and the future– Art Rittenhouse for Mayor, and Donna Roberts & Christian Hibinski for Council. This will be the first step to having a long overdue balance on the Council, and the respect, honesty and accountability you deserve.
Thank you,
Kennedy O’Brien
Mayor
