Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • November 2, 2011 Franklin Lakes Borough’s GOP council candidates run unopposed by Frank J. McMahon The three Republican candidates who are seeking election to the Franklin Lakes Borough Council will run unopposed in the Nov. 8 general election. Incumbent Council Members Paulette Ramsey and Charles Kahwaty are seeking the voters’ endorsement along with Joseph Kelly, who was nominated to the council seat left vacant by Councilman Michael Friscia. Friscia’s unexpired term will end in December. Ramsey is seeking her sixth term. She has been a council member since she was appointed in 1995. Ramsey was elected to her first three-year term in 1996. She is currently the council president and chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee. She is a William Paterson University graduate and a former elementary school teacher in Ramsey, Upper Saddle River, and Illinois. Over 43 years, Ramsey has been active in the borough. She has been a member of numerous community organizations, served on the borough’s planning board and zoning board of adjustment, and has been active on the borough’s Town Fair Committee. Kahwaty is seeking election to fill out the unexpired term of Mayor Frank Bivona, which will expire at the end of 2012. Bivona was elected to the council in 2009 and was elected to the mayor’s seat in 2010. Kahwaty was chosen by the council in February to fill the vacancy on the council reated when Bivona was sworn in as mayor. Kahwaty has been vice president of the Republican Club and is an attorney. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1980 and has also been admitted to the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, and U.S. Court of Appeals, the Third Circuit Court, Tax Court, U.S. Supreme Court, District of Columbia, and the New York Bar. His practice areas include personal injury law, commercial litigation, municipal court law, driving while intoxicated cases, and collections. A graduate of the Seton Hall University School of Law with a JD degree in 1979 and Georgetown University with a BA degree in 1976, he is a member of the Bergen County Bar Association and was its president from 2002 to 2003. He has also held several positions on the New Jersey State Bar Association and is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the American Trial Lawyers Association New Jersey, and the Republican National Lawyers Association. Kelly and he is a former employee of the International Business Machine company who has a BS in mathematics from Fordham University and MBA in finance from Wagner University. He served as a lieutenant in U.S. Army and was assigned to the National Security Agency. He has served on the New York City Board of Education and he taught math and science at DeWitt Clinton High School. He also taught math and science at the Roosevelt Evening High School. Kelly has senior marketing and brand management experience specializing in market assessment, competitive market analysis, new product introduction, and the development and implementation of marketing programs which achieve committed results, with a strong financial background and experience in budgeting and execution of a financial plan for a brand with revenue, profit, and turnover objectives. At the Equitable Life Assurance Society, he was a mathematician and was in the actuarial program. At IBM, he was a programmer for telecommunications systems and a development manager for market support applications. He also had foreign assignments in England, the Asia Pacific area, and Latin America. In addition, he was the marketing manager for personal systems products, voice recognition software, and cross brand solutions, and the brand manager for consumer and mobile products. Currently he serves as the district director for a free income tax program for indigent individuals in Paterson, Clifton, and Passaic, and he serves as vice president for Activities Unlimited, an organization of senior men based in Wyckoff. He has 11 grandchildren, and his wife is in the real estate business. Mayoral, council candidates (continued from page 3) spend, and that’s what I am here to do. “Having experience in working with many other municipalities, one statement I often hear that bothers me very much is: “I guess it is time to start cutting back and watching our spending.” I took the position from day one to watch our spending! As an elected official, my job is to watch and control spending! Where has the rest of the state been? Midland Park has become an envied town thanks to our council’s spending policies. “I was born and raised in this great town, and I am very thankful for the opportunity to serve our residents at the council level. If elected, I promise to continue to watch every dollar spent and continue to base my decisions on what I feel is best for the entire borough and continue not accepting benefits provided to elected officials. I’d like to remain on the proven team that will work to keep our town debt free.” Joseph Monahan – Council Candidate “I am seeking a council position in lieu of re-election for mayor as it allows me to strike a better balance between my family obligations and my increasing professional workload in my new job while still being able to contribute my skills and experience to the community I love. “There needs to be a continuation of our progress over the last four years where we look to bolster our tax base by promoting smart development after several approved projects have been sidelined due to the economy, negotiate the next renewal of our upcoming 2012 PBA contract and continue to seek more advantageous shared services along with challenging our charges for utilities. These goals coupled together with persistent cost reduction and the pursuit of grants all serve to at least maintain or better services while minimizing the impact to taxpayers. “Beyond achieving last year’s 1.9 percent, we’ve pursued the aforementioned plans and ideas as a priority over the last four years yielding an average annual municipal tax levy growth of 2.6 percent, as opposed to 4.5 percent in our prior four years. In contrast, our neighboring towns have ranged from 4-7.3 percent from 2008 to 2011. See www. kampmonahan2011.com for the details and further elaboration of our ideas.” Nicholas Papapietro – Council Candidate “During these trying times, many of our residents are living on a fixed income, are unemployed or underemployed. It’s been this council’s objective to maintain and improve upon, where it makes sense, the services provided to all residents of this community in a cost efficient manner. “We face declining municipal aid and unfunded state mandates. As finance liaison for the past three years, I have spearheaded a key objective of this council to comply with these mandates and not defer our obligations. We have accomplished this without reducing the services to our residents. “I will continue to focus on sensible solutions in dealing with the direction of our town and build upon our successes. One major accomplishment was dealing with the loss of anticipated revenue due to the dramatic reduction in the interest the town earned on its banking balances. We selected a new banking service provider resulting in an annual increase in interest revenue to the town of approximately $100,000. “This council will continue to adhere to the “pay as you go” philosophy, maintain a prudent surplus, and watch every penny from a budget planning and expense approval oversight perspective. Our town is one of the few municipalities without any debt. “One issue we face is that in less than a year we will be shaping the future leadership direction of the police department as the chief retires. (continued on page 10)