Allendale March 28, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 11 Borough council meets with new bipartisan group by John Koster Last week, the Allendale Borough Council met with delegates from the Allendale Civic Association, a newly formed bipartisan political group that aims to motivate and endorse candidates of Democratic, Republican, and unaffiliated backgrounds to run for local office. “The mission of the ACA is to form an unaffiliated civic association to engage citizens in open discussion of issues relevant to the Borough of Allendale and to encourage and support candidates to run for town office who will address these concerns,” said Paul Tomasset, one of the members of the ACA. “We believe that issues that are relevant to our community cannot be defined as partisan Republican or Democratic ones. Therefore, the Allendale Civic Association welcomes participation and membership from voters registered as Republican, Democratic, or undeclared.” Mayor Vince Barra, who, along with Council Member Amy Wilczynski, had met with members of the ACA a few days before to discuss possible use of the municipal building for ACA meetings, was openly curious about what such issues might be. “This really is a forum where people should bring issues to be discussed,” Mayor Barra said of the work session before last week’s public meeting. At the same meeting, Barra noted that -- for the sixth year in a row -- the council ‘We believe that issues that are relevant to our community cannot be defined as partisan Republican or Democratic ones,’ -- Paul Tomasset had avoided deficit spending with the adoption of a multipurpose bond ordinance to fund capital purchases. Tomasset assured Mayor Barra and the all-Republican council that no criticism of their actions was explicitly implied. He said the main purposes were to involve the broadest possible spectrum of Allendale residents in local politics and to find out what issues are most important to voters of all parties. “The ACA is in need of a larger meeting space and would like to use borough hall,” Tomasset said. “In our meeting with Vince and Amy last week, they made us aware of all the groups that use this facility. We want to be a good neighbor and will work to ensure that we do not schedule times that will cause conflicts with other organizations.” Tomasset said the group had taken form in October and has previously met at members’ homes, but with 25 regular members and another 20 or 30 prospective members, the group’s leaders believe they needed more space. “We have adopted bylaws, elected officers who can act on behalf of the organization, and are in the process of filing with the IRS as a Section 527 tax-exempt political organization,” Tomasset reported. Republican candidates have run uncontested in the last few elections. Tomasset noted that the last time an election aroused strong local interest was when Jim Strauch, a registered Republican and now a two-term council member, received about 1,000 votes on a write-in bid aimed at saving as many trees as possible from sports field construction. Strauch, who was the chairman of the Allendale Board of Adjustment at the time he ran, was defeated, but later ran as an endorsed Republican and was elected handily.