Rooney/DePhillips: New Leaders, New Ideas

Editor's note: The candidates for Township Committee were invited to address voters on the eve of the municipal election. To read the letter from Brian Hubert and Diane Sobin, see http://patch.com/jEvd.

As we enter the final days of our campaign, we are gratified and humbled by the support we have received from residents across Wyckoff. We declared our candidacy in early April and since then we have been engaging residents from all over town about the issues and challenges that our community faces. But we have never lost sight of how wonderful our community is, which is what motivated us to run in the first place. We believe that public service is a noble calling, and the public trust is sacred.

If elected, we will strive to keep our taxes and our bonded indebtedness low. Wyckoff has among the lowest debt of any community in our area, and we must continue to draw the line on any unnecessary new spending. We will fight unfunded state mandates on our community, like COAH, which substantially drive up our municipal taxes. We will strive for economically prudent open space preservation, responsible building and cohesive land use planning. We stand for smart growth, not “no growth.” Keeping our property values high is of paramount importance to our community, and that will always be a top priority for us.  

The township’s children will always be upfront in our minds as we work with the schools and our board of education on ensuring that all available educational resources are at their disposal. We will forge new relationships with the board of education and provide an important sounding board to them to keep the focus in our community on educational excellence. We will work with the community to upgrade and improve safety on our sports fields and in our parks. And we will not forgot our seniors and veterans, who have given so much to all of us and have told us that they want to feel more connected to our great community.

We believe in open government. For those who actually know us, they know we are problem solvers, consensus builders and are committed to addressing our community’s challenges with a fresh set of eyes and fresh perspectives. We are truly the new leaders in this race with the new ideas. You can expect independent and balanced decision-making from us. Our standard will always be what is in the best interests of our community, not any one specific interest group. This is what our residents expect from elected officials.

In closing, we humbly ask the citizens of Wyckoff for their vote on Tuesday, Nov. 3. You can vote for us on Column 2. Thank you.

Kevin J. Rooney     

Christopher P. DePhillips