Today we hosted the Democratic slate of candidates for Summit City council. They are Dan Crisafulli – At Large Candidate, Jaclyn Lasaracina – Ward 1 Candidate, and Chantal Landman – Ward 2 Candidate.
Each candidate presented a brief introduction of themselves and their primary reasons for running. Dan is a nine-year resident with a background in finance, Jacklyn is a former attorney, and Chantal is a sixteen-year resident and has held senior positions at Goldman Sachs.
Like their Republican opponents, each candidate has a history of community service and involvement with voluntary municipal organizations and is broadly running on transparency, public safety, and fiscal responsibility.
Their short presentations were followed by a robust Q&A session. The first question involved the added expense of local government in NJ due to NJ having 564 separate municipalities. The candidates all agreed that Summit must pursue more shared services with surrounding communities and feels more can and should be done in this area. A second question concerned controlling costs and municipal expenses. Here again there was agreement that the City should be assessing projects on the basis of needs versus wants and believe the current administration doesn’t take this factor into enough consideration. A specific example was given as to the purchase of bespoke playground equipment costing several hundred thousand dollars more than ‘off-the-shelf’ gear which came at the expense of reductions in the school’s budget, and this was related back to their underlying theme of needs versus wants. There was a question regarding affordable housing and where the City stood in relation to its Mt. Laurel obligations. Here the candidates differed materially with their opponents who believe the City is generally in compliance with its obligations while these candidates believe the City, being one of sixteen municipalities sued for non-compliance by an advocacy group, is at serious risk of having a court ordered decision imposed on Summit, as happened in Milburn, with unwanted consequences.
Rotary appreciates all the candidates who run for public office in Summit. The jobs are unpaid, require considerable time and come with considerable responsibility. We thank Dan, Jacklyn, and Chantal for spending time with us.
Mike Katz, Chantal, Dan, Jaclyn, David Dietze & Peter Bolton