This article will be the first in a series of articles defining how the Millstone Republican Township Committee candidates feel they are different from their Democratic challengers. They will define, in their own words, why you should vote for them.
For the upcoming November 4 election, there are four candidates vying for the two three-year terms on the Millstone Township Committee.
The two Republican incumbent Township Committeemen are Deputy Mayor Michael Kuczinski and Committeeman Fiore Masci.
The two Democratic candidates are Brian Dorf and Raymond Dothard.
The Millstone Township Republican Chairman Steve Lambros describes his feelings on the democratic challengers campaign.
“For no good reason we are receiving a challenge this year from the opposition party who either has a hidden agenda or just wants to govern. But, for no good reason, they are making us spend tons of money to defend our position.
We have a long proud history of positive accomplishments. We are just regular homeowners who many years ago, decided to get involved with the local government so that we could continue to develop a good quality of life for everyone, with schools that are not overcrowded with children, with streets that are not overcrowded with traffic. A place where our property taxes are maintained at affordable levels. We have done a great job through the municipally elected Republican officials we support.
Today, we are going up against two people who are unengaged, uninformed and unqualified. They are not willing to face us in public — but we are willing to face them. They are not giving anyone an opportunity to refute what they are saying in an open environment. It is a great disappointment to us.
We don’t mind the challenge but we don’t deserve the challenge. All 5 members of the Township Committee are doing an outstanding job. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t receive the Republican Party endorsement year after year,” Lambros said.
Differences between the Republicans and Democrats:
The Republican candidates are engaged and active participants in the community. Both Fiore Masci and Mike Kuczinski have volunteered and played decisive roles on many committees and organizations during the time they have resided in Millstone Township. Their love of Millstone’s rural character and dedication to maintaining all of the attributes that originally enticed them to live in Millstone have guided them into governing on the Township Committee. They feel their accomplishments, their dedication to open space, their pursuit of shared services and their financial and management acumen are some of the reasons why they are asking for your vote.
Steve Lambros said, “I see the election as a great contrast between Fiore Masci and Mike Kuczinski and the opponents. Fiore and Mike have spent the last decade doing everything they can to preserve the town, minimize property taxes, enhance residents’ quality of life. Our opponents want to reverse all that. They want to increase and intensify the development of homes and increase and intensify the commercial development. They want to make more affordable homes on small lots which will result in higher taxes for all residents.”
Fiore Masci
Fiore Masci has resided in Millstone for the past 16 years. After actively searching many towns in New Jersey, he chose Millstone as his family residence because it was a beautiful town with good schools, lovely parks, diversity in how it was developed and not overbuilt like most towns. He strongly supports the town’s rural character.
Masci started getting deeply involved in the community when he founded the Millstone Pop Warner program.
“Every Sunday, I traveled with hundreds of parents of both boys and girls to the Pop Warner games.
There was this unification of the town that I saw that I never experienced before. I loved being a part of a large group and having such a positive impact on people’s lives. I got involved because I wanted to have a good program for my kids. I was never thinking it would transform into the program it is today. I got to meet wonderful people in town.
Every one of us, we all moved here for the same reasons. Millstone was a beautiful community that offered everything we wanted for our families. When the opportunity came to me to be involved in the Township Committee, I really loved the idea that I could take the model I used in the Pop Warner program for 6-7 years and take my experience managing my own business and apply the very same principals to improve the quality lives of so many people.
I served on the Recreation Committee where I got to see how positively youth and adult sports affect the quality of life for our residents.
But it was really my respect for Nancy Grbelja that led me to get involved. I had so much respect for her then and I have so much respect for her now. I jumped at the chance to be part of the team.”
Masci is contrite as he defined his accomplishments.
“I am not one to communicate my successes because it’s really the people that surround me that help get me here. It’s because of my fellow Township Committee members and all of the Republican Committee members that I am here today.
My approach is always to look at things in the same way I run my business. I look at where we may have weaknesses. I look at where we need to develop strengths.”
Masci describes when he began on the Township Committee, the relationship between the Millstone School District and the Township Committee was extremely challenged and lacked communication.
The school budget continuously was voted down by residents and it was the responsibility of the Township Committee to review the budget and determine cuts. Masci was appointed Township liaison to the Board of Education.
“At that time, the Board had members that weren’t people you could communicate with. We have gone to great lengths to change this. It is because of this Township Committee and me being liaison that these changes were made. We now have the best relationship we ever had with them. We work closely together developing a whole new list of shared services that are saving taxpayers thousands of dollars, sharing things like janitorial services, electrical, HVAC, IT, salt and brine solutions from Monmouth County and a host of other things. It’s all about saving taxpayer dollars,” Masci said.
Another Township initiative that Masci played a key role in saving a half million dollars was related to a parcel of commercial land the Township owned that had specific environmental issues that needed to be addressed. Masci’s business acumen and line of questioning directly led to the significant savings of a half million dollars.
As liaison to the Millstone Department of Public Works (DPW), Masci and the Township Committee review all spending and invoices and ask questions about potential purchases.
In doing so, the Township was able to save multiple thousands of dollars by using replacement parts on equipment rather than replacing the entire piece of equipment. The Township also saved a significant amount of money by using recap tires on Township vehicles. For example, new tires may cost $600-$700 each but the Township is now paying only $200 per tire by using recap tires.
Masci said, “All these areas are areas that I feel really good about. It’s all about being efficient with taxpayer dollars. I look at spending taxpayer money as if it were my own. That’s how government should be. This wasn’t something that I just learned from having my own business. I learned this working with people like Mike, Gary, Bob and Nancy. Each one of us brings their own specialty to the table. We work well together. We respect each other.”
Mike Kuczinski
Mike Kuczinski shares Fiore Masci’s interest in retaining the rural quality of Millstone Township.
Kuczinski has lived in Millstone Township for the past 13 years coming to Millstone because he liked the openness and rural character of the town. He felt that many other places appeared crowded and over built but Millstone was just right. He has served as Township Committeeman for more than five years but has been active in the community as a volunteer on various boards, councils and/or associations for about 11 years.
“The importance of being on the Township Committee for me today is to further and continue the policies and initiatives we have implemented over the years that have been a winning strategy for the residence of Millstone, delivering the highest quality of life at the lowest cost.
We all came here for the same reasons and we work hard to protect what we have and love about Millstone. When I first moved here, I began volunteering as a baseball coach, then I went on the Recreation Commission, the Planning Board and one thing led to another and I kept getting involved in multiple things in town and helping out where I could. It was always for the betterment of the town. When things came around and there was consideration about having a pet cemetery incinerator in town, I really got involved. I got together with some neighbors, put together a group, we all hired an attorney at our own expense, got the Township Committee involved and they helped us along the way. We had many people standing behind us because we didn’t want a pet cemetery and incinerator in Millstone. We said we didn’t want this and would fight tooth and nail to stop it. This thing wasn’t going to go away unless we fought it. It was for road kill and horses – not the family pet. They were trying to say the emissions weren’t going to be harmful. We fought hard and defeated it.
I’m proud of my involvement in that.
I’m also a member of the Planning Board, on the Rec Commission, Open Space Commission, Office of Emergency Management. I’m involved with the Millstone Fire Commissioners and First Aid. I’m involved in a lot of areas and I take a personal interest in what goes on in Millstone. It all started years ago because I saw how things were going on then.
When I first moved here, my taxes were $8,700 year. Within five years, they doubled — not because of the municipal tax but due to the school, county and state tax increases. Since Republicans are on the Township Committee, we were able to stabilize taxes and we implement the master plan.
We stopped all that building. Under past leadership, building was just running rampant. They didn’t care how many houses were built. They didn’t care about the ultimate potential problems of roads, infrastructure, increases in the student population. They built the middle school based on projections and now we are not utilizing all our schools to capacity. If we don’t keep the quality of life as it and better it from here, Millstone will be just like every other town. We don’t want that.
We need the recreational facilities. Fiore and I were on the Rec Commission together and visited many other towns. They all have these incredible, beautiful recreation facilities. Why don’t we have those kind of facilities? We should have them but that wasn’t a priority back then. Instead they built Wagner Farm Park way too small and it can’t accommodate any programs. It’s just a big waste of money. We are avoiding that kind of mistake.
With the new Millstone Park, we will build something sizable that makes sense and attracts big commercial advertisers like Nike that will help us by being a sponsor and bringing money back to the town. Think of what we can do with that.
How did we do it? In a responsible way, on 180 acres, away from everyone and advertised to the whole town so everyone knew about the future plans for the park. Millstone Park is going to be a full blown recreation facility.
In the past, things were done for the town but not for the betterment of the town,”Kuczinski said.
The Millstone Township Committee is currently seeking $250,000 in Monmouth County Municipal Open Space grant funds to create Millstone Park on Red Valley Road, formerly known as the Lee Farm. This 180-acre property was preserved through the New Jersey Green Acres program several years ago.
The first phase of the plan would allow for the construction of a boat ramp, a fishing pier, a building with restrooms, a concession stand and multipurpose fields. Millstone Park will accommodate active and passive recreational pursuits.
“The idea that a company like Nike, one of the largest companies in the world, would sit down with us and even contemplate using that site for tournaments in soccer speaks volumes as to this park we are developing. We are doing this over phases and in a responsible manner. We are doing it without increasing taxes at all!” Masci said.