By John Burton
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – This year’s race for the two, three-year terms on the Borough Council has voters choosing between two Republicans, both new to municipal government, and two incumbents who are running under a different banner this year than voters may recall.
Candidates Stephen Boracchia and Susan Tidswell have taken up the GOP mantle for Nov. 8, challenging incumbents Louis Fligor and Jacob Hoffmann for a place among the six-member governing body.
Hoffmann and Fligor, formerly Republicans, are running as independent candidates this year.
Boracchia, 55, is a former Marine Corps pilot and attorney who currently works as a sales manager for a chemical company. For Boracchia and his running mate, first and foremost, the issues are taxes and spending. In the 2013 primary he was a member of a slate of candidates affiliated with the Bayshore Tea Party conservative group that unsuccessfully attempted to challenge the 13th Legislative District Republican.
The borough council’s current composition “seems to vote diligently for tax increases,” Boracchia said, charging property taxpayers have suffered a 31 percent increase in the last approximately six years. Boracchia maintained that the municipal harbor, an important financial resource for the municipality, has had vacant boat slips since the recent recession and the council has failed to address the loss in revenue. “It seems as if some mismanagement is going on,” said Boracchia.
Tidswell, 58, is a native of London, England, who has lived in the United States for 20 years and in the borough for three. She currently works as a senior vice president for a national executive recruiting firm.
She has not held or run for public office but said she’s been active with a number of local volunteer committees. While meeting residents she was struck by a question a voter asked: “Are we a town on the water or a water town?” Tidswell realized the waterfront is an underutilized resource and could be used to attract more visitors. “Where is the kayak rentals? The dock and dine?”
“I think what I’m hearing, not from the old guard, but the new guard,” from younger residents, Tidswell said, is “it’s time for a change.”
Fligor and Hoffmann, longtime Republicans, became involved in an internal rift within the local GOP establishment over last year’s mayoral race, with Fligor challenging the party selection in the primary and Hoffmann supporting Fligor’s ultimately unsuccessful bid. This year the Republican borough committee selected Boracchia and Tidswell over the incumbents, which they said is fine with them.
“It’s always been about the people more than the party,” said Fligor.
Fligor, 55, is a lifelong and third-generation borough resident who has been on the borough council for 15 years. He is a senior application engineer for a flow measurement company.
“I’ve been working hard for the town. I always put people first,” he said and would like to continue the work. “Anyone who knows me knows that.”
He challenges the Republicans’ assertion about issues with the water and sewer and with the municipal-owned and operated harbor. According to Fligor, the dissolution of the Atlantic Highlands-Highlands Sewer authority has resulted in savings for the borough and property owners, as much as $245, 000. As far as the harbor is concerned, revenue has increased by 3.8 percent.
Hoffmann, 77, is a retired small marine business owner who has lived in the borough since the 1950s and has been on council for nine years. “I have no agenda; I’m not interested in running for another office,” he said. “I just feel an obligation to follow through and continue the work…I bring common sense to the situation,” rather than a political orthodoxy.
“There are accomplishments every day,” that often go unnoticed, Hoffmann said, that in the end continue to improve the quality of life for residents.
