HOLMDEL – Four candidates are running for two open seats on the all-Republican Holmdel Township Committee in November.
Republican Mayor Eric Hinds is seeking re-election with running mate Chiung-Yin Cheng Liu. Their challengers are Independent candidates Cathy Weber and Prakash Santhana. No Democrats filed for candidacy.
Citizens for Informed Land Use (CILU), a citizen group formed in 1998, hosted a candidate forum Oct. 14 for township committee and school board candidates in Holmdel. Santhana and Weber attended, but Hinds and Liu did not.
According to Hinds, there is video evidence of CILU members stealing his and Liu’s election signs, which he said he reported to police. “I didn’t feel it was going to be a fair environment. I went to the primary (forum)…and I’m always willing to do a debate, but it’s got to be fair,” said Hinds.
CILU co-president Regina Criscione said the group is a nonpartisan organization but that “does not preclude any CILU member from exercising their First Amendment rights to support a candidate.” She also said Hinds emailed organizers Sept. 8 and said he was unsure if he could make the forum due to his work schedule.
Hinds was born and raised in Middletown. He moved to Holmdel 20 years ago and lives there with his wife and three children. He has coached various sport teams in Holmdel and he works as a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch.
He has been on the township committee for nine years, four of which were spent as deputy mayor and three as mayor. He is running for re-election because he wants “to leave Holmdel in the best shape possible.” His main goal is to lower taxes for residents in the next three years.
“I think we can find more efficiencies and at the same time we’re going to have unprecedented revenue from commercial ratables, specifically Bell Works,” said Hinds.
The Bell Works project is one that Hinds is most proud of during his time on the committee. He is also proud of the township’s top Aaa bond rating by Moody’s, the recently generated newsletter and land parcels that have been preserved under his leadership.
Challenger Cathy Weber is also an advocate for land preservation. Feeling frustrated with the current committee’s former plans to install lights and turf at Cross Farm Park, she co-founded Preserve Holmdel, a group dedicated to maintaining natural space.
She has been a Holmdel resident for about 25 years and lives in the township with her husband and three children. She has been involved in community groups, including the Holmdel swim team, Girl Scouts and served as a school board member for over three years. “I have dedicated myself during my time here in Holmdel to community service and volunteerism as a leader and as a doer,” she said. Weber is a senior associate director at Princeton University.
If elected, her top three priorities are to decrease taxes, bring more transparency to the township committee and represent all residents.
“Put people over politics,” she said.
Running mate Prakash Santhana has lived in Holmdel for five years with his wife and daughter. He is a managing director at a global consulting firm where he focuses on preventing fraud, waste and abuse for government entities, he said. He also advises them on exploring new revenue options and to not be too dependent on taxes and tolls.
He is a member of Preserve Holmdel and Fire Action Safety Today (FAST). He said he noticed that “for a small town like ours, we had way too many resident groups fighting the town. That was odd.”
Like Weber, Prakash said if elected his three main goals are to reduce taxes, cut unnecessary spending and to look for new revenue sources for the township. He also wants to bring more transparency to the committee. Chiung-Yin Cheng Liu has lived in Holmdel for 23 years. She currently resides there with her husband and two children. She has been an educator and administrator since 1980 and in those roles has valued team work and ethics, she said.
Liu is also an elected school board member and has been for nine years. On the board, she has chaired several committees, was vice president in 2018 and was vice president of the Monmouth County School Boards Association from 2018 to 2019. She is a trustee of Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence and is the treasurer of Shore Music Educators Association.
She said she wants to run for election to the township committee because after nine years of public service on the school board and in various organizations, she understands the importance of giving back to the community. “I am endorsed by the Holmdel Republican Party and Monmouth County Republican Organization running for the position of Holmdel Township Committee,” she said. “It will be a great honor to continue serving my beloved Holmdel in a different position.”
Liu cited fire safety and emergency services as a major concern facing the township right now, saying that Holmdel is home to beautiful landscape but few parcels of preserved lands. The town “can’t afford” for anything unfortunate to happen, she said. “A centralized firehouse, updated equipment and related issues have been discussed.” If elected, Liu said she would work with elected officials to form an ad hoc committee in advising and planning.
“Life and property matter,” she said.
