By Sarah Yamashita
For the first time, Democrats can take control of the Morris Township Committee. They only need one seat to make history this fall.
In the June 5 primary, four Democrats are vying for two spots on the November ballot.
Dan Falkner and Mark Gyorfy, endorsed by the local party, and former Committeeman Jeff Grayzel and Tara Olivo-Moore, who jumped into the race together just before the filing deadline, made their pitches Tuesday to about two dozen people at a League of Women Voters forum at the Alfred Vail School.
“I think everyone knows here that our party is on the cusp of a major turning point in the history of Morris Township,” said Gyorfy, a Morris Township firefighter for nearly 10 years and a former staffer for Rep. Albio Sires (D-8th Dist.).
“We can’t afford to be short-sighted right now in our decision who we elect this year to represent Democrats in the fight for the majority in November. Dan and I believe that we should put forth committee members who are focused on the future rather than dwelling in the past,” said Gyorfy, who advised the congressman on homeland security, veterans’ affairs, and financial services policy.
“We can continue to have elections where we have the same candidates…or we can put a stake in the ground and pivot towards change,” added Falkner, a former Naval officer and investment banker who works at a Fortune 15 company.
Grayzel, a two-term committeeman (2007-2009 and 2011-2014), countered that his experience is exactly what the Township needs.
“We need to show the residents of Morris Township that Democrats can govern. I have that experience: Six budget processes, years of institutional knowledge under my belt. I can step in on day one and govern and I think I can govern well,” said Grayzel, who has been president of G3 Medical Development since 1998.
Olivo-Moore is a nurse practitioner in family practice with experience as an emergency nurse.
“Like many Democrats, I woke up in November 2016 and I realized that being an informed voter was no longer enough,” she said.
A friend connected Olivo-Moore to NJ 11th For Change; she still has Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s DC fax number taped to her fax machine.
She said she aims to bring two perspectives to Township government: Her healthcare background, and her gender.
“Looking at races around the country, it’s clear that many voters are looking for a woman this year and I think we should give the voters of Morris Township the opportunity to vote for a qualified woman.”
The Democratic primary winners will face Republicans Bruce Sisler, a three-term incumbent, and Joseph Calvanelli Jr., who are unopposed in the GOP primary, in the fall race for two three-year terms.
While the Democrats agreed on many issues, they differed over what services the Township should share with neighboring towns.
Falkner’s idea is energy aggregation. He noted that New Jersey is one of the few states with a deregulated energy market.
“What that means is you can leverage free market principles and you can take the town’s energy and put it out to bid. You can also partner with other towns to make a greater pool of energy customers, to lower power bills for residents,” he said, asserting residents can average savings of $100 a year, at no cost to the municipality.
Gyorfy called for greater collaboration with Morristown. When he was canvassing he learned that some township streets, especially the ones close to Morristown, are not plowed as swiftly as Morristown’s.
“I think that can be an opportunity, if Morristown has the capacity to bring plows into the Township, to help our residents,” he said.
Olivo-Moore said tick-borne diseases are on the rise. “One shared service that I think would be really great is to partner with our surrounding towns to take care of the kinds of insects that spread these diseases, to do the kinds of programs that get rid of them, and to do the kinds of public health programs that help people to avoid getting those diseases.”
Grayzel had two ideas for shared services.
“Our kids go to school together, Morristown and Morris Township… We should be merging our recreation departments with Morristown, so the kids who go to school together can actually play together in different programs.”
Grayzel also said Morristown has outsourced its garbage collection. “We have done a great job in Morris Township over the last few years of getting those automated one-armed bandits that come around and pick up our garbage. Our garbage collection is very efficient, and I always thought…why don’t we just extend our garbage service to Morristown?”
Gyorfy said trash and recycling centers in Morristown would need to exercise the same standards as the Township’s, for Grayzel’s plan to make sense.
The candidates also differed on how to reduce taxes.
Grayzel pointed to projects during his two committee terms.
“Two of the efforts I did work hard on was when we merged our municipal court and created a joint court with Madison, Harding, and Chatham. It saved Morris Township $150,000, and all the other towns certain amounts of money.
“I also worked with the sewer plant to reduce costs of the sewer plant. I’m a trained engineer with a master’s in engineering, I speak their language, we worked to lower costs there and reduce costs for the residents.”
Olivo-Moore could not say exactly how she would reduce taxes.
“But it’s an absolutely essential issue because we now that there is going to be a cap on state and local tax deductions of $10,000 and that is going to be impacting many of our residents here. So we’re going to need to be creative and thoughtful about how we go about our tax planning and budget planning in the township,” she said.
Gyorfy sees missed opportunities in the $35.5 million municipal budget.
“Particularly when it comes to things like applying for grants to help pay for a new fire truck, or new police cars, or police or firefighters’ salaries. That’s something I worked on while I was in Congress: Advocating to the federal government to help support local municipalities in my boss’s district.”
Gyorfy said the Township might lower taxes through shared services. Randolph pays Morris Township to take its sewage, he said.
Instead of paying for things out of its budget surplus, the Township could spread payments over time, and put money back into residents’ pockets, Falkner said. Expanding the municipal tax base would help lower taxes, too, he said.
“There was a big hole when Honeywell left and we haven’t really brought businesses back into the township,” Falkner said, contending the Township should actively recruit businesses.
Morristown Green correspondent Sarah Yamashita is a senior at the Morristown-Beard School. She will attend Smith College in the fall.
