Can Red Bank grow and still work? Mayor candidates pitch visions to voters

RED BANK - Affordable housing, a more efficient government and even battling global climate change at the local level dominated a debate between two men fighting for the Democratic nomination for mayor in this town.

Michael Ballard, who has served on the council for five years, is running against political outsider Billy Portman, who owns Advantage Construction, a commercial building contractor, and Elegant Mist, a company that sells cooling systems. The contest, to be decided by voters in the June 7 primary, could determine the next mayor in a town where Democrats have dominated local politics but have split into rival factions.

Here is what they had to say in a Tuesday debate hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Greater Red Bank Area and Southern Monmouth County.

What should Red Bank do about development, affordable housing and taxes?

Ballard called development “a necessary evil,” but added that if it “is smart, is sensible and it’s controlled … if that development comes in and it fits the character, it doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb, it has the right architecture, I can support it.”

Portman said he believed the biggest issue concerning development is updating the borough’s Master Plan, a study that outlines the future for the municipality in terms of infrastructure and growth. Red Bank’s last major change to the Master Plan was in 1995. A handful of revisions were made in 2009. And in 2019, a new Master Plan re-examination began.

“There are definitely areas that are better for development than others,” Portman said, citing The Rail, a 57-apartment complex across from the train station, where monthly rents run as high as $4,800. “The Rail to me is an appropriate development. It’s right next to the train station. Hopefully, we’ll be attracting residents who don’t need to use their cars or don’t have cars because they’re commuting by train. It’s better for the environment and it can help revitalize that area.”

Both Portman and Ballard said the supported affordable housing, but their approach differed.

Portman promoted developing private-public partnership with local nonprofits like HABcore and Lunch Break to expand affordable housing.

“I think there’s a lot of options here where we could meet and even exceed our affordable housing requirements,” Portman said.

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Ballard disagreed with the use of the public-private partnership, saying it could turn public housing into market-rate housing after a certain number of years.

He said his plan is to expand affordable housing at Montgomery Terrace “to possibly expand those apartments to bring in more affordable units.”

Both Portman and Ballard said they were generally against payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, a system where developers agree to pay a set annual fee for a certain number of years, rather than be subject to property taxes, which can vary.

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How should Red Bank fight climate change?

Ballard listed a number of local initiatives the council had passed, including the borough’s plastic film recycling program and a stormwater management ordinance, but he said changing the borough government fleet to electric vehicles is not possible currently, citing a lack of infrastructure such as electric vehicle charging stations.

“That may take years and a lot of monetary investments even with a grant to make that happen,” Ballard said. “So in the near term, we should follow state and federal guidance and do the best we can. New Jersey is in an automobile-driven society. … So, in the near term I’m not sure what Red Bank can do to stop climate change, if anything.”

Portman countered, saying, he hopes the borough can set year-by-year emission reduction targets for borough operations and transition borough vehicles to electric.

“It’s not going to happen all at once,” Portman said. “We can certainly work to make borough buildings more energy efficient. Whenever essential air units need to be replaced, we can go to a hybrid heat pump. They’re a lot more efficient. So, there’s a lot of things we can be doing.”

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Should Red Bank change its form of government?

Portman said he supports nonpartisan elections and a change from the current form of government, where council members oversee municipal departments, to a council-manager form, where a borough manager reports to the council.

Right now, Democrats dominate elections, holding all six council seats and the mayor's office, but they have split into two factions.

Portman said he decided to run in this primary election because he disliked how the 18-member local Democratic Municipal Committee rejected Mayor Pat Menna for its primary endorsement this year, turning away the 16-year incumbent for Ballard instead. Menna decided not to run in the primary after failing to get that endorsement.

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A nonpartisan election would eliminate primaries and give outsiders who are not chosen by the local political parties a similar opportunity, Portman said.

The Charter Study Commission was formed after 70% of votes in last November’s election voted in favor of a study to change the borough’s form of government.

“Clearly people are hungry for a change,” Portman said. “I’d like to see nonpartisan elections. … Everybody deserves a vote in this town. It’s not enough to say that’s the way we’ve always done things. That’s exactly what I’m running against. I’m running against that machine, that business as usual. And I’m running against a form of government that’s over 100 years old right now.”

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Portman said he supported a strong borough or business administrator running the daily operations of the town, saying, “we are volunteers for the most part for this position (as mayor or council). There are trained professionals who study to be borough administrators. In the same way that I wouldn’t want the council to tell an engineer how to design a foundation, you shouldn’t tell a borough administrator how to handle the day-to-day operations.”

Ballard said he voted for the Charter Study Commission, but said he was concerned about the possibility of nonpartisan elections.

He defended the local Democratic Municipal Committee saying, “This idea that democracy is a dirty trick is just unconscionable to me. We had the same process for I don’t know how many years. … Our county committee people are elected by the residents. They vote every year for who runs. It’s the same process.”

Ballard said he is against a strong borough administrator, arguing, “That administrator works under direct supervision and accountability to the council and the mayor. The administrator is an unelected position that has to be renewed on an annual basis. I feel the administrator should work within the confines of what the elected officials, who are put there by the residents, want to see done by the town. It is his responsibility to execute the will of the council.”

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How can Red Bank work better?

Ballard said he has been cutting discretionary funding to create a “very fair tax rate and taxes for our residents.”

Portman said, “I certainly commend any effort we can to save the borough some money, but the reality of it is about 95% of our budget is fixed. It’s taken up in salaries. It’s taken up in pensions. It’s taken up in insurance. So, the amount of money that we have is discretionary spending is a pretty small amount. I want to make sure we’re not making cuts just for the sake of making cuts.”

Ballard said, “Over the years our DPW staff, our department of public work staff has been systematically gutted and skinned to the bones so we don’t have as many park workers to maintain our beautiful parks all around town. … I would look to reinvigorate that department.”

Portman said on the east side of town, the park is beautiful, but “there’s a disparity between the east side and the west side. … I don’t think the same attention is being placed on the parks on the west side and I think that’s unfair. It’s going to need to change.”

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Ballard said his first issue if elected mayor would be to fill the vacancies in the borough.

“Our municipal hall was devastated with knowledge base and employee departures from a (chief financial officer), from two parks and recs directors, from our IT director, from our director of planning and zoning. And that knowledge cannot be easily replaced.”

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Red Bank mayor candidates issues: Affordable housing, climate change