WEST ORANGE, NJ — This year’s West Orange Township Council promises new blood on the town’s governing body, with four challengers running for two open seats. Council President Susan McCartney and Councilwoman Cindy Matute-Brown are not seeking reelection to the council, as they are both running for mayor. Therefore, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, West Orange voters will elect two of the following four candidates: William Michael Barbee, Ron Charles, Asmeret Ghebremicael and Susan Scarpa. Each council term is for four years.
Barbee, a 22-year West Orange resident who identified himself as a philanthropist, is a business owner with experience in commercial and residential real estate, mental health issues, and media endeavors. He serves as board secretary for the Mental Health Association, which has recently partnered with the West Orange Police Department for a pilot program that pairs mental health experts with police when dealing with relevant calls. With the Salvation Army, he has worked to combat food insecurity; as a founding member of the Health Care Foundation of the Oranges, he and his colleagues have sponsored health fairs.
When asked what the greatest issue facing West Orange today is, Barbee said that different communities will likely give different answers, but that the complaint he heard most often while canvassing was about West Orange’s high taxes.
“Understanding our tax structure is a layered issue. Many residents feel that the administration, along with the council, has made poor business decisions and afforded developers far too much in tax abatements and payments in lieu of taxes,” Barbee told the West Orange Chronicle. “I would hire a professional full-time planner while carefully analyzing our tax structure and rising rates. I would explore how to invite developers to our town without giving everything away. When the council makes poor business decisions, the cost and burden falls in the lap of the residents in the form of tax increases.”
Charles, a 26-year West Orange resident, was recently appointed director of the Essex County Department of Corrections and has led the Essex County Department of Public Safety, the Union County Department of Corrections and the Union County Juvenile Detention Center during his career; professionally, he has been responsible for government agencies with budgets of more than $110 million and staffs of nearly 900 employees, and was able to reduce wasteful government spending and develop programs and grants to secure revenue. Charles is also a former president of the West Orange Board of Education, on which he served for two terms, and has been involved as a coach or administrator with the West Orange Police Athletic League, Mountain Top League, Pack No. 10 Cub Scouts and the West Orange Wrestling Program.
“Over the last few months, as I have been speaking with the residents of West Orange, the constant topic that continually is discussed is the need to keep West Orange affordable for each of us. Whether you are a young family or senior, it’s what I have found is important to all,” Charles told the Chronicle. “If elected, I believe there are a few ways to reach that goal: Control spending and eliminate wasteful spending; seek shared-services agreements with other municipalities or agencies; establish smart commercial development; expand our revenue of grants; and create a public bid portal which invites vendors to bid on services and projects, thus providing an open, fair process.”
Ghebremicael, a longtime resident who graduated from West Orange High School in 2007 and whose child is currently in the West Orange school system, has worked since 2014 in the Essex County executive’s office, serving as the assistant to the Essex County chief of staff. Most recently, she served as the Essex County COVID-19 call center manager and spearheaded the 2020 Essex County census initiative. Ghebremicael has also served on the West Orange Human Relations Commission since 2015 and on the rent leveling board since earlier this year.
“The top issue I see in West Orange is high taxes. This is an issue affecting many nationwide, but here in West Orange I would like to work with my council colleagues and mayor towards stabilizing taxes by finding a way to generate additional revenue without sacrificing the services we receive,” Ghebremicael told the Chronicle. “This could be through finding grants to help support our operating costs or other townshipwide projects, including smart redevelopment.”
Scarpa, who grew up in West Orange, has experience owning and operating a business consulting firm servicing Wall Street banks and investment firms, and in telecommunications. Today, Scarpa works as a speech language pathologist, working with schoolchildren.
“If you ask most people what they believe is the most important issue, they will say something along the lines of ‘Taxes are too high.’ I, however, believe that better managing taxpayer dollars is not an issue but instead one of the most basic responsibilities of government. I believe that the most important issue in this election is that the needs of our seniors are not being met,” Scarpa told the Chronicle, adding that the town needs to create a senior citizen advisory board. “I have spoken with many seniors for almost a decade of advocacy for seniors in West Orange, and it is clear we are not doing enough as a town to help them in their time of need. … This is a matter of fundamental fairness, as our seniors are 20 percent of our taxpayers and are not getting a return on their investment of their taxpayer dollars. I have worked to bring intergenerational programs to our community and, as a town council member, will ensure that our seniors will have a senior citizen center in one of our township’s underutilized facilities, preferably the Toby Katz Center.”
Barbee, Charles and Ghebremicael also support the creation of a senior citizen advisory board.
Taxes are inextricably linked to the town’s ratables and are affected by redevelopment. When asked about her views on redevelopment in town, Scarpa again brought it back to senior citizens.
“I want to make sure that the decisions we make and the way we develop our township will unite our community and give us all the opportunity to age in place among family and friends. I have always felt that diversity of age is as important to a community as cultural and economic diversity,” Scarpa said, again advocating for a senior center. “We need to develop our community to better serve families of all ages with better recreation facilities and programs. We must also do a much better job of attracting and maintaining small businesses in our community. I believe that we would benefit from a professional town planner to achieve these goals.”
Ghebremicael spoke of the importance of considering each redevelopment plan based on its own merits, rather than making a blanket statement regarding redevelopment.
“I believe each project would have to be evaluated individually before any decision can be made,” Ghebremicael said. “Every project stands on its own. I would have to look at the specs and see if it financially makes sense for our township. However, to stabilize taxes in town, we need to focus on smart redevelopment that will not overburden our township resources and services.”
Charles also emphasized the need for “smart” development.
“My position on redevelopment is very simple. I support smart commercial development that will bring in ratables to offset the tax burden on our citizens,” Charles said. “I would evaluate each proposal on its own merits, the impact to our environment, and what West Orange and its taxpayers would gain by approving each. I will seek input from the citizens affected in the proposed area prior to approval. I do not support expansion of residential housing in large numbers, as I believe it would negatively impact our schools, quality of life and services.”
Barbee sees a need for more commercial redevelopment, as opposed to residential.
“We should hire a full-time planner with a strong foundation and understanding in commercial development. However, it has to be fiscally responsible and make sense. While I support senior living, I disagree with the town moving our library up to Executive Drive. Since there was space to develop, why was there not a consideration to build senior living there?” Barbee asked. “I support the redevelopment of a downtown area that would entice small and minority-owned businesses to the community. As a filmmaker, I support the idea of a movie/sound stage coming that would be adjacent to our historic Thomas Edison museum. Let’s be clear, none of this can happen over a period of time until we invest in a full-time planner.”
Finally, candidates addressed crime in West Orange. Though crime rates in West Orange have been trending downward, there is still crime, and residents have expressed concerns.
“One of the main issues that I feel is pressing has to do with our need to protect and support our law enforcement and first responders. We are operating at a dangerous level when it comes to police response time between the hours of 2 and 4 p.m. During those hours, some of the town’s crossing guards are not on duty. Therefore, the responsibility falls on our officers to carry out those duties,” Barbee said, adding that this could prevent officers from responding to an emergency. “This is mainly due to the town operating with approximately 90 officers, when it should be somewhere around 120.”
Charles, who has nearly four decades of experience in law enforcement, had several suggestions to increase safety.
“When you study crime in West Orange from a criminologist’s perspective, you would see that West Orange is a pretty safe town and our police department is providing services to our town at a very high level. I understand that, with some recent events, residents have become worried for their safety,” Charles said. “My recommendations (serve) to increase safety to help residents feel safe and secure and at the same time provide the most up-to-date technological assistance to our officers.”
According to Charles, the town must ensure that proper staffing of police, fire and first responders meets national standards in the rank-and-file and supervisory ranks; increase technology resources to assist with crime prevention and crime investigation; implement and expand community programs; implement business and faith-based initiatives, such as active-shooter training and security assessments; implement specialized training for first responders dealing with individuals with special needs, as well as emphasizing de-escalation and naloxone training; and “aggressively advocate that the state police provide for increased patrols of Route 280.”
Ghebremicael also emphasized the importance of up-to-date training for first responders.
“Public safety is key to quality of life,” Ghebremicael said. “First, I would like to thank our amazing police department. I think that working with our local police as well as collaborating with partners in the county and state would be beneficial for our community. I would also like to find funding through grants to help with resources for our officers, as well as continuous education and training to keep skills in top shape. Citizen engagement is also key in keeping our community safe, and building relationships between our police force and residents is important to ensuring everyone feels safe.”
Scarpa commended the West Orange police and advocated for more programs like Operation HOPE.
“I have always been an advocate of a community policing model and feel the West Orange Police Department has done a good job with many programs they have implemented that could become a model for other communities. One of these initiatives I participated in is Operation HOPE. Operation HOPE is a heroin and opiate–prevention effort that the township and the West Orange Police Department are pioneering. The mission of Operation HOPE is to help people whose lives have been affected by drug addiction,” Scarpa said. “We hope that the West Orange Police Department will be the first of many police departments in the state of New Jersey to start programs where people who are affected by drug addiction can get the help they need. I would love to see our police department supported and funded to achieve our community policing goals.”
Election Day is Nov. 8.
Four challengers vie for just two open seats on the West Orange Township Council added by Yael Katzwer on
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