Kinsey and Nurko face off in candidate debate
Residents question stances on pay-to-play, development, open space
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer

Robert Kinsey

MILLSTONE - The two candidates for Township Committee went head-to-head in a public debate last week.

Republican incumbent candidate Robert Kinsey and Democratic candidate William Nurko expressed their views on township issues such as land use, open space preservation, ratables, taxes, and each other's leadership capabilities in an Oct. 23 debate now being broadcast regularly in its entirety on the township's cable access channel 77.

The two candidates are vying for the one open Township Committee seat up for grabs in the Nov. 6 election. The candidate elected will serve a three-year term on the governing body.

Kinsey, the current deputy mayor, began the debate by saying that three years ago he asked for residents to support him and in doing so they have received a leader who has faced many challenges and has provided "true solutions" to township issues. He said he is seeking re-election because "there is much more work to be done."

"We need to stay focused and be diligent in addressing the needs of the community," Kinsey said.

William Nurko

Nurko, a former committeeman and mayor who ran in but lost the last two elections for a Township Committee seat, said he would like to bring checks and balances back to the governing body, which is currently composed of Republicans.

"A bipartisan make-up provides for checks and balances," he said.

When questioned regarding land preservation in the community, Nurko said he would ensure that the Township Committee continues to convey to landowners that it is sincere about preserving more open space and protecting the agriculture and equine endeavors in the community. He also said he would try to ensure that landowners are receiving the best equity for their properties and that preserved properties are put to the best uses for the community.

"[If landowners] put their property into preservation and don't sell it outright, they have the opportunity to stay there and retain their equity," Nurko said.

Regarding land preservation, Kinsey said the township's open space program had been driven to a halt prior to his election three years ago. He said that former township officials failed to file the necessary documents to recoup money from the county and state for land put into the preservation program. He said he has helped revive the township's open space program by ensuring that the township lines up all financial partners in the preservation process in the beginning of each transaction so it does not have to pay any more than its fair share.

"We're lining up all of the partners when we get the application process started so that when we close, we don't pay the state and county share," Kinsey said. "We show up with our 16 cents out of every dollar. That's the way we don't waste money on open space."

Nurko said the process of preservation has been in flux from the beginning. He said that during his time in office, he worked with two hardworking volunteers to preserve land in the community.

"We had to work really hard with the property owners and move forward at a fast rate to develop a good rapport with them to show that we were serious with the program and would come forth with the money to buy properties at lower values than we are able to do right now," Nurko said.

Kinsey said he did not blame the volunteer base for the problems in the open space program. He said it was the Township Committee who had to make sure the paperwork was filed but didn't.

"We have a robust open space program right now," he said.

When addressing development in the township, Kinsey said a total of 25 to 30 homes have been built in town since he has taken office. He said prior to that, when Nurko held office, hundreds of homes had been approved for construction in town each year. Kinsey said that although some people believe that homes are ratables for the township, they are not. He said that even though a home may bring in $15,000 to $16,000 in taxes each year, it most likely adds children to the school district and infrastructure costs.

Kinsey said the township needs to create more commercial ratables to help offset the tax base.

Nurko said he has no idea how many homes were built in the township while he served in office.

"We limited and controlled growth to the best of our ability," he said.

Nurko said that while he served in office, the township went from 1-acre to 3-acre zoning and then finally to 10-acre zoning.

When asked to name a municipality that has tighter zoning laws than Millstone had when Nurko was mayor, Kinsey said, "Millstone has much more tight zoning laws now than when Bill Nurko was mayor."

As examples, Kinsey said that open space created in developments out of the cluster option now has to measure 75 percent of the total tract and can no longer be managed by developers. He also said that developers are no longer allowed to consider undevelopable parts of their properties as open space in order to meet the provisions of the cluster option. He also said that the township now charges developers management fees in regard to maintaining retention basins.

Kinsey alleged that when Nurko was in office, he held up master plan revisions in an effort to give a cousin time to get a subdivision application approved before zoning changes took place.

Nurko said that he did not stall the creation of ordinances to implement master plan changes. He said he had to take into account how the 10-acre zoning change would impact Millstone residents, especially those with small parcels.

"There were multiple applications at the time," he said. "I had no interest in what my cousin was doing. I own 1.49 acres in Millstone and that's it."

When asked to further address the topic of ratables, Nurko said he had been attending the township's Economic Development Council (EDC) meetings and had been awaiting its report on potential ratables.

"At a certain time, they closed their meetings [to the public]," Nurko said.

Kinsey said that the EDC has been working on a report since 2004 and has hired a planner. He said the EDC report on ratables will be part of a larger report delivered in December.

On municipal budgeting, Nurko took issue with the township spending increase of $700,000 from 2006 to 2007.

"I don't think the township is budgeting efficiently enough," Nurko said. "We've got to tighten it up, starting with the budget preparation each year."

Nurko also said that he thinks the township needs a five-year budget projection that was promised.

Kinsey said he believes the township is budgeting effectively and has been building the budget each year from scratch, with each department participating in the budget process.

"We're utilizing less surplus in this budget than in the past," he said.

Kinsey said that in order for the township to be able to complete a five-year budget projection, it has to clean up what didn't happen in the past regarding the budget.

With regard to pay-to-play, Kinsey said he would have liked the township to adopt a stricter ordinance with zero tolerance and full disclosure clauses.

On pay-to-play, Nurko said that Kinsey appointed a township professional whose brother-in-law is part of a Republican Club that contributed $5,000 to the RCEC, which funded Kinsey's first campaign "to the tune of $15,000."

Kinsey responded to this allegation after the debate and said, "One glaring misstatement of fact by Bill Nurko was that I received $15,000 of contributions from the RCEC in 2004 and that the RCEC received $5,000 from a township professional. I received $15,095 from the RCEC in 2004, none of which came from township professionals. This fact is easily verified via reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission."

When given the opportunity to respond to Kinsey's comment, Nurko said, "But I did not say that the RCEC received $5,000 from a township professional. I will admit to a misstatement about the amount of the contribution from the Republican Club - it was not $5,000 The exact amount was $2,501."

Nurko said that the RCEC elect report filed Jan. 31, 2005, shows Oct. 28, 2004, and Oct. 30, 2004, contributions from the Republican Club to the RCEC for election literature and postage totaling $2,501. At that time, Kevin Abernathy was president of the Republican Club. Nurko said Abernathy is the brother-in-law of Township Engineer Matt Shafai, of Avakian Inc.

In a 2-1 vote on Jan. 7, 2004, with township officials and Republicans Elias Abilheira and Nancy Grbelja casting the approving votes, Avakian Inc. was awarded appointment as township soil engineer.

The candidates also discussed their abilities to work in a bipartisan manner during the debate. Nurko said that he has worked with Republicans in a bipartisan manner and has supported Republicans such as Evan Maltz in previous Millstone elections.

Kinsey said that he sat on the Township Committee with Nurko.

"He never worked with me in a bipartisan manner," Kinsey said. "Bill never shared comments with me, particularly on the budget."