Mayor and council seat up for election

Voting has begun and Election Day polls will be open this coming Tuesday, Nov. 5.

The township has two municipal races to consider. For mayor, Councilwoman Jen Mundell, a Democrat, and Dave Tucker, a Republican, are opposing each other.

For an at-large council seat, Councilwoman Monica Charris Tabares, a Democrat, is being challenged by Russell Mollica, a Republican. The winners of both races will fill unexpired terms of one year.

Mundell has been a councilwoman for seven years and is a vice-president of development with RWJBarnabas Health. As councilwoman, she initiated the CARES unit which is a response team linking the Bloomfield Police and Health departments. She also initiated the Bloomfield Farmers Market, clean-ups through the Bloomfield Beautification Committee, Women’s History Month, which annually has a menstrual hygiene product drive, a Woman-to-Watch award and a professional women’s networking event. Mundell has secured funding for the Bloomfield Children’s Library, the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Network and was responsible for amending an ordinance to permit micro-brewing.

While campaigning, she said she learned that, for the most part, residents were happy and appreciate the way Bloomfield is developing. They felt Bloomfield was a safe town and they had the support of public safety departments and they appreciated the recreational activities.

“The most common complaint was the potholes,” she said. “They want the roads paved and improvements to the water infrastructure.”

When it comes to quality-of-life issues, Mundell said the township can come together to address them.

“We’re always facing an aging water and sewer infrastructure,” she said. “And we have to have a strategic plan for roadway improvements. We must look at the NJ Infrastructure Bank, which is a source of state funding giving a municipality the opportunity for improvements to its water infrastructure.”

Regarding flood mitigation, Mundell believes a regional approach must be taken.

“As mayor, I would bring 20-plus years of experience in governance and relationship-building to the job,” she said. “I have a strong track record in getting things done and have demonstrated leadership capabilities to be mayor, and I have the experience.”

Tucker is a retired sales executive and business owner. He was a First Ward Councilman, from 1991 to 1993, and a member of the Planning Board, from 1989 to 1993.

A main concern of the residents, he said, was the purchase of the abandoned former Essex County vocational school building, on Franklin Street, for $10 million. It is proposed the building, in the south end of town, be razed and open space created. Another major concern for residents was the quality of drinking water.

If elected mayor, Tucker said we would schedule four council meetings a month. Presently, there are two. At these meetings, he would eliminate the five-minute rule for public comments and allow dialogue between the public and council. He would require all department heads to attend the meetings and answer questions within 48 hours. He would not allow campaign contributions from vendors doing business with the town and eliminate all township employees hired as political favors. He would closely examine all board appointments and try to void the $10 million purchase of the former Essex County vocational school building.

“Since I am retired, I will be a full-time mayor,” Tucker said. “We need a mayor and a council to be the ones making the decisions as to what is best for Bloomfield and take that power back from the Essex County Democratic machine.”

Tabares is a vice-president with the North Hudson Community Corp., managing budgets for its Head Start services. She was appointed to the township council in February. Previously, she was a member of the Bloomfield Board of Education, elected in 2020.

She said for Third Ward residents who are renters, public safety is a concern. Also in the Third Ward, upheavals caused by development makes rodents a problem. Garbage bags left outside also attract rodents.

“I’m trying to see if I can get a grant to purchase garbage cans,” she said.

On streets near East Orange, drivers from that municipality park on Bloomfield streets making parking difficult for residents, Tabares said. And cars were being broken into. Gunshots were heard recently in an area near the border, she said.

In other parts of town, Tabares said abandoned buildings are an eyesore impacting property values.

“There’s overdevelopment in the First Ward and empty lots,” she said. “The developers are given PILOT programs. You don’t get a full tax benefit for 10 years.”
PILOT or payment in lieu of taxes, allows a developer to avoid taxes for a time, instead making payments to the township.

“In all wards, the roads are horrendous,” Tabares continued. “The roads and the pavement. The county roads are getting done first, but everyone is concerned with the roads.”

Tabares said whenever she hears a resident’s concern, she immediately reports it to the business administrator. When she heard that gangs were dealing drugs on Charles Street, she contacted the BPD which established a neighborhood watch.

“I’m a mediator between the residents and town,’ she said. “I keep in contact with the resident until I see a solution is in process.”

If elected, she will focus on working with the BOE and getting pre-K services.

“The biggest concern for this is the location of the pre-K services,” she said. “I’d also be working with Latino seniors. They don’t feel they have a voice.”

She would work with the Latino community through out-reach programs and events.

“I have a track record with the school board,” she said. “I’m the voice of the Latino community. That’s 35 percent of Bloomfield, but your voice can only be heard if you vote. But the concerns of all the residents are the same. If you email me, I’ll answer. Or call me. I’m very approachable.”

Mollica was on the Bloomfield Planning Board 2012 and 2013.

“I’ve had over 50 years of business experience, knowing all aspects of it, as an accountant with Dun and Bradstreet,” he said, “a holding company, and wrote analytical
reports for the acquisition of Telemundo. I also was involved with an automobile marketing company and owned a used car lot.”

Under the U.S. Department of Commerce, Mollica was on an export panel making recommendations to American businesses.

He also helped develop a pathway for India to import pharmaceuticals to the U.S. and developed business relationships between Yugoslavia and Russia.

“I worked to set up a refugee database program in the former republics of Yugoslavia which was to relocate and resettle refugees,” he said.

Residents are concerned about a lack of transparency with the town government, high taxes and flooding, he said.

“Everybody knows there’s a political machine,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Mollica said the town’s infrastructure was not developed to handle the development it has.

“My first step would be to analyze the township books, records and contracts,” he said. “The town does a forensic audit already. By law, towns need it annually. But they don’t drill down into the details.

“I don’t think the Sacred Heart development is smart growth,” he continued. “We can’t get things under control with what we have now.”

The proposed Sacred Heart development, on State Street, would be property owned by the Archdiocese of Newark.

“Do we need to add the cars and people?” he said. “Maybe the infrastructure has to be fixed first. As a lifelong Bloomfield resident, we need a check-and-balance on the council to ask the tough question of ‘Why?’ And if it doesn’t benefit Bloomfield, vote no. If it does, vote yes. The town has to move away from party politics. You don’t need an ‘R’ or ‘D’. We need a truly non-partisan government.”

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