Parties debate affordable housing, parks budget at Morris County commissioners debate

MENDHAM TOWNSHIP — Five of the six candidates running for the Morris County Board of Commissioners clashed over whether the county could do more to support affordable housing, mass transit and local parks during a debate Tuesday night at the Brookside Community Club.

Republicans Doug Cabana and Christine Myers faced off against Democrats Judy Hernandez, Thomas "T.C." McCourt and Alicia Sharma in the hour-long debate. Republican Tom Mastrangelo, an incumbent commissioner along with Cabana, was unable to attend.

Cabana, a Boonton resident and former mayor, is an attorney who has served on the commissioner board since 1997. Myers, from Mendham, served as commissioner from 2016 to 2018, when she was appointed by then-President Donald Trump to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy. Mastrangello lives in Montville and is a business consultant in the I-T industry.

Hernandez, a Parsippany resident, is an advocate for environmental and social issues who has served on her township's Planning Board, Open Space Committee and Environmental Advisory Committee. McCourt, of Dover, is a sales coordinator for Paige Electric Company. Sharma lives in Mount Olive and is the assistant controller for the Pingry School in Basking Ridge.

The candidates are vying for three three-year terms on the seven-member board that runs county government, which Republicans control. The commissioners oversee a $331 million annual budget that includes an array of healthcare and economic development programs, the county 911 system, spending for the sheriff's and prosecutor's office, county roads and 20,000 acres of parkland, among other departments.

The county Chamber of Commerce sponsored Tuesday's debate, which was moderated by Morris Township Mayor Mark Gyorfy, a Democrat, and Washington Township Mayor Matt Murello, a Republican.

Below are the questions the candidates discussed and select responses, edited for length and clarity.

Affordable housing shortage

Question 1: As commissioner, how will you address the widespread shortage of affordable housing?

McCourt: County government should"set aside a homeless trust fund, set aside an affordable housing trust fund. Put money on the table to share with municipalities, join them at the table and incentivize developers to bring more affordable housing to the municipalities where they are wanted. Not only will that provide the housing that's needed, but it will make the projects more palatable."

Sharma: "As a commissioner, I would look to see if the county can offer any incentives to help offset some of the developer costs . . . I will encourage municipalities to take stock of their inventory. If there are empty buildings like office parks, retail outlets, can they be reassessed to see if you can rezone them for affordable housing?"

Myers: "In general, (commissioners) support the infrastructure of our municipalities, and we are always looking for opportunities to do work with them and support them. Unfortunately, affordable housing is outside our parameters. We do support them as far as providing HUD (Housing and Urban Development) oversight and working with Morris County to enable their affordable housing."

Improving public transportation

Question 2: Please provide your thoughts and ideas on improving public transportation in Morris County.

Sharma: The county's public works master plan "has some great recommendations for how to address these shortcomings. So I as a commissioner would use that plan to help guide me to improve public transit, particularly in areas where there is no public transit, as well as providing special transportation for low-income workers, senior citizens and people with disabilities."

Cabana: "Bus lines don't really work in Morris County. This is an old issue; we've studied this . . . We do take care of those who are disadvantaged in our communities. We do have the MAPS (Morris Area Paratransit System). Many of the towns, if not all, offer Dial-A-Rides for senior citizens. If anybody needs a ride for a human service, we bring the services to them or we go and get them. No one is deprived of that, but it's a challenge in this part of the state, and that's just a reality of living where we live."

McCourt: "The only limitations that exist are the ones that we put on ourselves, and if county government is saying that they don't want to do anything to help in the area of mass transit regionally or even just inside Morris County, well, that's a shame. I think that that is something we should study. I think it's something that a lot of residents, especially in our more populated cities, would flock to, and the way you make sure that it doesn't lose money is that you structure it around those areas."

Cabana: "It's not about, 'No, we're not doing it. It's not our job.' We are working, certainly at all levels, and continue to do so, especially working in conjunction with our towns."

Driving down costs

Question 3: As a commissioner, will you work to implement further initiatives to help drive down costs for Morris County municipalities?

Myers: "Yes. We're always actively looking for those opportunities, including the jail (that) now takes in inmates from Sussex, which brings in revenue . . . Suffice it to say, we are always looking to help the municipalities save money and to do things better and smarter, while ensuring we don't have overreach and that the municipalities have personalities of their own."

Hernandez: "Yes. Shared services are the key to saving taxpayer dollars . . . I'm thinking there's got to be some more. There's got to be more than just the jails sharing services. Services overlap and are redundant; there are many. There's an opportunity to maybe hire a shared services coordinator whose job might be to spearhead that effort, look for some of that low-hanging fruit."

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Economic development and regulations

Question 4: What are your plans as county commissioner to improve economic development and ease regulations for small businesses throughout the county of Morris?

McCourt: "We need a Department of Economic Development in Morris County just like our neighbors have, where a person sits in Morristown every day and does nothing but reach out to the existing businesses to find ways to help them grow and prospective businesses to make them relocate to Morris County. We all know how great Morris County is, but I don't think we do near enough telling everybody else how great Morris County is. We don't see commercials for Morris County on TV, but I do see commercials for Middlesex County on my TV all the time. I want to start seeing Morris County put itself on the map."

Sharma: "As a commissioner, I would look into other ways to increase revenue to support our businesses without jeopardizing funding for social services . . . I would work with municipalities to develop a unified marketing and branding strategy for the county. With 482 square miles of natural beauty, Morris County has a lot to offer to visitors."

Cabana: "The comments that Mr. McCourt made really hone in (on) what the difference is between the Democrats and Republicans. He wants to build bigger government by having an agency. We want to partner with the private sector . . . (The Chamber of Commerce) has done such a great job in promoting Morris County. All of these things that are talked about, they've done, and we've done it with a minor investment on our part. That's making your dollars go further, and that's carrying out the function of government with a partnership. That's what we're good at, and that's what we're going to continue to do."

Hernandez: "We're not talking about bigger government; we're talking about rethinking government. We're talking about rethinking how the tax dollars are spent on the county level . . . We should be thinking forward and thinking of other opportunities as this world is changing, and taking advantage of it."

Cuts to the parks budget

Question 5: The county commissioner's budget for the Morris County Park Commission has declined sharply over the last 20 years. What will you do to restore the funding?

Hernandez: "Looking at the past expenditures, the Board of Commissioners has reduced the budget of the parks significantly, without an increase in over a decade. I will look at all the departments and find out how we can return some of that funding . . . When compared with other counties, Morris County spends less money per acre on their parks. So let's raise their visibility, let's give them the money that they need because they are an asset. Let's help them thrive."

McCourt: "The first thing I would do is I would ask to be the Parks Commission liaison, and I would go then meet with (the commission) and ask them what they need from county government in order to provide the best possible parks that we can. It is insulting for Morris County Commissioners to constantly lift up our Parks Commission while doing nothing to give them the money that they need to improve our facilities. I think we need to start actually putting our money where our parks are and make them the best in the region."

Myers: "(The commission) received $14 million in CARES (federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) funding . . . They're actually having to give it back because they couldn't find people to work at the park, so that is the problem. We need a workforce that's willing to go to work. Our parks are amazing. We need to keep them, we need to grow them."

Cabana: "We are the largest county parks system in the state of New Jersey, and we are the best. I'd love to know what's wrong because when I go to the county parks, I think they're great. It's really good to hear that we have a low cost per acre. That means we're doing a good job with the stewardship of our public lands."

Kyle Morel is a local reporter covering Morris and Sussex counties.

Email: kmorel@njherald.com; Twitter: @KMorelNJH

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Morris County NJ Commissioner election debate tackles housing, parks