In the final week of The Moorestown Sun’s Meet the Candidates series, candidates running for election on Moorestown Township council make their final pitch as to why they should earn your vote.
Voters will decide who will be elected to fill the three open seats up for election in the township on Nov. 3. Ballots can be cast either by mail, hand-delivered to the various drop boxes in Burlington County or by a provisional ballot at your district’s polling place. All mailed ballots must be postmarked before Nov. 3 to be counted.
Barbara Omert
Our community is facing an upended reality in our day-to-day and an uncertain future; the last thing our residents need is a higher tax bill, a hyper-partisan climate in town hall or town leadership that kicks the can down the road on key projects.
If we’re given the opportunity to serve, Doug Maute, Vick Bobadilla and I will work hard every day to ensure that the voices of the people – all the people – are heard. We will welcome individuals to the conversation on every key issue regardless of party affiliation, make appointments to board and committees based on qualifications rather than political favoritism, award contracts in an open process and fight for a more affordable Moorestown that doesn’t default to automatic tax increases.
The Omert, Maute and Bobadilla team will move forward on items that should have been done long ago. We will sue the polluters of our water supply to recoup dollars for our taxpayers and stop further water and sewer rate increases. We will break ground on the Lenola Redevelopment Project. We will build designated softball fields for our town’s young girls for the first time in our town’s history. We will finally move forward on building Percheron Park on Main Street.
We will approach every decision we make not as politicians but as your neighbors. We will find bipartisan solutions, build bridges instead of creating divides and deliver real results. Moorestown needs a fresh start; together with Doug Maute and Vick Bobadilla, I’m prepared to deliver.
Doug Maute
Moorestown deserves a town council that speaks for all residents. Barbara Omert, Vick Bobadilla and I will do just that.
Our community needs leadership that listens, results instead of rhetoric and a plan for our future that will lower taxes and deliver transparency. If elected, the Omert/Maute/Bobadilla team will fight to make Moorestown more affordable, pursue legal action against those who polluted our water and move forward on projects that were unnecessarily delayed like the Lenola Revitalization Project and Percheron Park.
We’ll implement sustainability plans that are good for the environment and the taxpayer, including launching a pilot for a food waste recycling program that will save tax dollars on trash collection while reducing methane. We will protect our open spaces and family farms and will explore additional acquisitions for Moorestown’s roster of protected lands.
Barbara, Vick and I will work with our town’s small business community to forge a path forward following the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping lines of communication open to build a stronger local economy. We’ll be advocates for all Moorestonians – not just a few who share our political affiliation – and will base our appointments and contracts on merit and commitment to our community, not narrow ideologies or political donations.
By sending in your ballot for the Omert/Maute/Bobadilla team, you are voting for lower taxes, fiscal responsibility and long-term plans for Moorestown’s social and economic future. We’ll never stop working for you and look forward to delivering a fresh start that is long overdue.
Jake Van Dyken
Moorestown deserves fair-minded and balanced decision-making on council. I believe there is too much work yet to be done in Moorestown to be weighed down by petty politics and partisanship. My service on council would be focused on one thing: the best interests of the township, its residents and businesses. I feel that I have proven myself by my education, work and civic duties to be cooperative with others even if we do not share the same opinion, as well as hard-working toward achieving goals. I would take these skills to council to ensure that the residents of this town are well-represented.
I have a vision for Moorestown to solidify its footprint in South Jersey as the premiere place to live by bringing new and diverse businesses to the community such as a brewery; keeping property taxes low by increasing commercial ratables and developing alternative means of revenue and making Moorestown a more welcoming place to do business by streamlining the approval processes for its businesses and supporting community-related events highlighting our business community.
As I have said before, Moorestown families care very deeply about their community, and I just want to make sure that the township facilities, infrastructure, parks, open space and resources are maintained and updated going forward for current families to enjoy and to remain attractive to others wanting to live here in the future.
Sue Mammarella
I will bring my decades of business and entrepreneurial experience, energy and tenacity to the position. I have no other agenda except to serve this community and continue to make it a place that people come to set down roots just like my family did over 20 years ago. My fellow candidates and I are excited to move forward with business goals like the establishment of a business liaison, removing barriers to starting and keeping businesses in Moorestown and pushing the Lenola revitalization through to completion.
We are committed to building trust with open communication, always telling the truth to our residents and delivering good and easy to find information to our businesses and residents alike.
Now, more than anytime I can remember in my lifetime, we must stand together as a community and as a country. We will focus on ideas that unite and not divide. We hope to create a community action plan for equity, inclusion and engagement to ensure that different perspectives are heard with civility, good will and purpose.
So neighbors, there is a lot coming at you over the next few weeks, and I am grateful if you have read this far. I’d be honored to be your voice on council along with Jake and Dave. Please vote column 1, all three of us. Stay well and safe.
To learn more about our platform visit our website www.moorestowntogether.com.
David Zipin
I am not a natural politician, but I couldn’t continue to sit back. My service on the planning board and the EDAC have helped me discover an even greater desire to serve, so the time came to step outside of my comfort zone.
There has been tremendous progress over the past two years unraveling many wrongs that resulted from years of partisan deadlock; I want to see this progress continue. Moorestown is a tremendous town, but like everywhere, Moorestown faces unavoidable challenges. COVID, social unrest, partisanship… just some of the issues that must be tackled head on, and it takes a village. Moorestown’s citizens have the untapped talent and enthusiasm to continue that progress and achieve almost unimaginable things, but this requires leadership and vision. This is why I will work to draw the community together. It’s time we return to treating each other as neighbors, leaving partisanship in DC.
Moorestown is a great place to live, but that doesn’t come easily or inexpensively; for decades, too much cost burden fell to residents. I want to remove the frustrating barriers that businesses face and work to unravel Moorestown’s inhospitable reputation by growing commercial ratables to relieve the burden that falls to individual homeowners.
I believe that this is the most consequential election in modern American history, and I want Moorestown to show that we can rise above the partisanship and send a clear message that we reject the hate and division that has crept into and infected our great town.
Vick Bobadilla
When you sit down to fill out your Vote-By-Mail ballot, ask yourself what kind of future you want for Moorestown. Is it a future where taxes are lower and where projects that haven’t gotten done finally move forward? A future where clean water is a priority and the bad actors who polluted Moorestown’s water supply are held accountable for their actions? Does that future have a government that believes in true transparency and wants to make decisions with residents fully involved in the process? Would you like to see Moorestown on a path of true unity – not unity achieved by stomping out differing opinions but where we can find bipartisan answers to our problems and where diversity of thought is welcomed? If you answered “yes” to these questions, your choice is clear: Vote for me and for my running mates Barbara Omert and Doug Maute.
While Barbara, Doug and I don’t pretend to have all the answers, we are willing to work with all residents to find the solutions that work best for our community. If you are willing to come to the table with good intentions, a willingness to work together and a desire to get things done, we will always welcome you with open arms.
We ask for your vote and pledge to be your voice. With your Vote-By-Mail ballot or your provisional ballot on Nov. 3, we humbly ask for your vote for the Omert, Maute and Bobadilla team to deliver a fresh start for Moorestown.
