Sea Bright Talks Infrastructure and Flooding

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SEA BRIGHT – A new mayor will soon be named in Sea Bright after seven years of leadership under current Mayor Dina Long.

Additionally, three candidates are vying for two open council seats in the November election: incumbent Independent candidate Kevin P. Birdsall, former councilman and Republican John M. Lamia Jr. and Democratic candidate Samuel A. Catalano.

Brian Kelly

Long has endorsed current council president Brian Kelly for mayor. Kelly, a Republican, has lived in Sea Bright since 2000 and has been visiting the community since the 1970s. Kelly is the father of two children. He has been on the council for 15 years and served as council president for three.

Kelly, the president of Sea Bright Solar since 2003, said the opportunity to work with so many Sea Bright residents and business owners has been “a priceless, satisfying experience” that he hopes to continue as mayor.

If elected, Kelly said his goal is to keep taxes as low as possible, bring in revenue, be inclusive of people’s ideas and improve flood and storm resilience initiatives. During his time on council, Kelly said he has helped the borough benefit from more than $40 million in grants and insurance monies after Super Storm Sandy for economic recovery. That included seawall repairs, two new borough buildings, bulkheading and streetscape and beautification projects, he said.

Kelly said some of the main concerns facing Sea Bright are the need to keep up revenues to of fset property taxes, manage borough operation costs for efficiency, finish bulkhead work, flood mitigation and public access along the downtown riverside, address the onerous regional school tax levy and to continually improve effective storm response. He also said he wanted to see the completion of new municipal facilities, a new Master Plan, storm readiness procedures, a Hazard Mitigation Plan and more.

Jack Sanders

Democratic mayoral challenger Jack Sanders has lived in Sea Bright for five years with his wife and son. He is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and said moving to Sea Bright was a big step for him after living in the industrial Midwest.

As an attorney, Sanders has been “dealing with holding governments accountable” for the majority of his career. He got involved politically in Sea Bright when developers proposed river-front development near his home downtown with little concern for potential flooding impacts, he said.

He also shared concern about the current government’s lack of transparency, made up of “mostly the same people” who have been in leadership positions for some time. “It’s developed a bubble,” he said. Specifically, Sanders said the council should be more transparent about development plans and potential school district changes.

Kevin P. Birdsall

Running for one of the two open council seats, the incumbent Birdsall has lived in Sea Bright since 2012. He has worked in several fields including road and bridge construction, welding and corporate America. “You name it, I’ve done it,” he said. He has been a council member for about three years and said his background is helpful because he understands the functionality of what needs to be done in the borough, especially with construction projects.

Noting his love for Sea Bright, Birdsall said he wants to run for re-election to keep things in check, especially overdevelopment. He voiced disapproval of high-rise development similar to that of Long Branch or Asbury Park. “ We really cannot support it. We’re a barrier island.” Currently the borough’s ordinance allows for a height limitof38feet.“We have a lot of areas in this town that could at any minute be sold to a developer and could just be overdeveloped,” citing any of the five marinas in town.

His big concern right now, however, is flood mitigation. One way to do that is to keep the water in the river for as long as possible. Birdsall is also looking into ways to best keep flooding out of the streets and out of the sewer systems.

John M. Lamia Jr.

Candidate Lamia has been a Sea Bright resident for 13 years where he lives with his wife and four children. He has been involved with the YMCA as a community sports director, as a volunteer with the Sea Brighters Embracing Action and as a member of the Sea Bright Dunes Committee. He has 43 years of experience in problem solving and service delivery education, he said, nine with Exxon Corp. and 34 with Siemens, now ATOS Inc.

Lamia is a former councilman and served from July 2014 through Dec. 31, 2017. During his time on council, he facilitated a fundraiser to replenish lost beach and lifeguard equipment, reestablished dunes, helped bring lifeguards to Anchorage Beach and more. He was a member of the grant, finance and Lead on the Beach committees. “I am committed to community progress, prudent spending, fairness, diversity and improved communication,” he said.

He said he is “always willing to assist a friend, neighbor and the community,” and added that he is a good listener and has “favorable understanding of what can go wrong with a proposed activity, which if considered in advance will typically minimize errors and oversight.”

Samuel A. Catalano

Candidate Catalano has owned a home in Sea Bright for three years and has been in the area for about 10 years. He is the owner of Amerifence LLC and deals with large government contracts, which he said would be beneficial to borough projects and the future of the town.

As a fisherman and boat owner, Catalano said he wants to run for council because he loves the town and wants to keep it the “best beach town it can be.”

He hopes to continue Long’s momentum and all that she’s done since Super Storm Sandy. He feels some of the main concerns facing Sea Bright are flooding and traffic and he has been working with current councilmen Charles H. Rooney III and Marc A. Leckstein to brain- storm ideas to make things “run smoother.” He also hopes to keep taxes as low as possible with ratables.