Candidates Face off on Honeywell, Open Space

One incumbent and three hopefuls met and spoke with the public Monday night during a Morris Township Committee Candidate’s Forumt at the Morristown Presbyterian Parish House.

The League of Women Voters of the Morris Area conducted the debate, which allowed opening and closing statements separated by 12 questions submitted from the roughly 30 people in attendance.  

The most frequent topics of concern were open space and taxes, and questions about one inevitably led to discussion of the other. The proposed redevelopment of property owned by Honeywell— the township’s largest taxpayer—was discussed at length by all the candidates.

Two Republicans and two Democrats are vying for the two open seats on the committee. Republican and former deputy mayor Dan Caffrey is the lone incumbent running for re-election. Another seat is opening due to the pending retirement of fellow Republican committee member Raymond Snyder, who attended the forum. Caffrey’s running mate is Andres Benvenuto. Caffrey works as a financial advisor, while Benvenuto is a global strategy executive.

The Democrats are represented by Jeff Grayzel, who served on the committee from 2007 to 2009 but lost his re-election bid two years ago. Grayzel has experience as an industrial engineer and a manager of marketing and new business development . His running mate is Mike Kandybowicz, 26, a lifelong township resident and the youngest of the candidates. His background includes working as a campaign coordinator in the marketing and pricing division for the Toys R Us corporate office.

All four candidates expressed concerns about Honeywell’s proposal to develop part of its large parcel of land. But while the Republicans stressed the need to consider Honeywell’s evolving proposals, as well as other “smart-development” proposals, to generate new tax revenues, the Democrats stressed the need to preserve open spaces.

“As a member of the planning board, I publicly opposed Honeywell’s looking to place a hotel on the corner of Park and Columbia, and also opposed the density of the project and the stacked condos,” he said. “Remember, though, Honeywell as a property owner has a right to make an application to the planning board, and I have a responsibility to listen.”

Caffrey, along with the others, said he could not evaluate Honeywell’s current revised plan until it is studied further, but stressed that the township needs to find new sources of tax revenue.

“It’s really about services and affordability,” he said, later adding that “This could be the most beautiful town in the world but people will leave if they cannot afford to live here.”

Benvenuto noted he is a member of the township’s open space committee and environmental commission and is running to help “maintain and preserve responsible leadership ideals that exist today on the committee and we must continue to promote this behavior without interruption.” He said if elected that “during my term, I want to continue prioritizing operating efficiencies and promote fiscal discipline” and “continue to focus on keeping the township budget well under the 2 percent property tax cap.”

Grayzel said his re-election bid was lost in part due to the Republican party momentum during Gov. Chris Christie’s successful 2009 victory over Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine, “But I’m back trying again because my heart is in Morris Township and I want to serve the community here.”

Grayzel added that during his three-year term on the committee, he served on the planning board for two years and also gained experience serving on various subcommittees including police, fire and recreation.

“I’m very much in favor of protecting what we have in Washington Valley (where he resides) as well as all over the rest of the township … the open spaces … the fabric that we have in Morris Township, single-family homes with spaces in between us,” he said. “I look forward during my term, if elected, to (preserving) that fabric of Morris Township the way it is and not have it overdeveloped.”

Kandybowicz stated that he has canvassed door-to-door to meet residents and “People are very surprised at how young I am and they’re curious to know why I want to get into (municipal) politics. I always tell them the same thing: I love Morris Township. I’ve lived here my whole life. … Morris Township has provided an excellent place to live and grow and experience life. And it’s this love for our community that has fulfilled a deep desire in me to give something back.”

His primary message was that the committee should “make a commitment towards increasing communication between the government and the people to make sure the citizens are fully informed and actively engaged in local politics.”

Both he and Grayzel proposed broadcasting committee meetings in the future and making a better effort to post meeting agendas on the township website.

Caffrey countered by stating that the committee has tried to put together an e-mail list of township contacts to improve the committee’s communication with the public, but that Grayzel declined to share his contact list or forward information from the committee to his contacts.

Grayzel did not get a chance to address that allegation in part due to the format of the debate, which limited rebuttal. There were a few tense exchanges, however, including  Caffrey’s allegation that while on the committee, Grayzel’s oversight of township department staffing, in part led to 24 township employees joining a union, costing the township thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Grayzel and Kanybowicz, meanwhile, criticized the committee’s “reactive” as opposed to “proactive” dealings with the Bayer Corp., another large corporate taxpayer that recently announced it is leaving its longtime Morris Township base and will move to East Hanover.

All of the candidates agreed that looking into increased use of shared services with neighboring municipalities was a good way to keep taxes down and increase operating efficiency. They also were of like mind in criticizing JCP&L’s response to parts of the township losing power for up to nine days in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

Caffrey said he has met with JCP&L to discuss the matter and noted the “double-whammy” of Irene, which not only knocked down trees, but flooded a substation he said was not adequately protected from the elements.

“To borrow a line from ‘Jaws,’ they’re gonna need a bigger wall,” he said, and promised to make sure that happens.

Kandybowicz added his praise for the response provided by local emergency management.