REPUBLICAN DAVID HENDERSON ANNOUCES HIS CAMPAIGN TO BECOME HAMILTON TOWNSHIP MAYOR

Hamilton, NJ – David Henderson said “I simply cannot sit by any longer and watch the town that I grew up in run into the ground by the mismanagement and corruption of the current Administration. I want Hamiltonians to have a viable, conservative choice to manage the affairs of their government moving forward.”

In his press conference on the steps of the Hamilton Municipal Building Henderson outlined a portion of his vision for the future stating “Hamilton needs to move away from the current template of waiting to see what fast food companies and warehouse developers knock on our door. Hamilton residents deserve better than row after row of WaWa and warehouses. Quality Economic Development and Re-Development will bring increased property values and an improved quality of life.” He highlighted Economic Development initiatives including his intent to engage the corporations in the growing off-shore wind turbine industry to set up manufacturing facilities in the now vacant properties along Hamilton’s Delaware River shore line which uniquely afford deep-water access for barges to ferry manufactured turbines to off shore operations. He also spoke of his vision of family friendly waterfront development at the now abandoned PSE&G site that would include an environmentally friendly brownfields redevelopment venue of shops, restaurants and entertainment mirroring the projects he has been involved with in Memphis, St Louis and Louisville. He also hinted at resurrecting his transit village proposal presented in 2000 to then Mayor Rafferty as his plan for the Congoleum Property.

Fire Consolidation was another important priority for Henderson’s presentation as he discussed the current mess that the Administration and the Council fail to bring to an acceptable conclusion.  His position was stated that the Administration’s sole goal is a money grab to find their own way out of the increasing debt that they have secretly and illegally accumulated while presenting a front of keeping the tax rate, as they say, “the lowest in the county.’ Henderson pointed to the Administration’s continued position that they plan to layoff fire fighters to achieve the pre-2017 117-member fire service, thereby diminishing services and risking the safety of the fire fighters and the public. The Administration’s plan would place the costs at $22M when the current 178-person force is slated to operate at about $30M with a $4M reserve. That would be, in the administrations plan, a $12M “saving” which they would certainly not reduce taxes but divert those funds for debt service payments. Mr. Henderson’s position is that the original option of consolidation to a single district remains the most expeditious and viable.  He would immediately make that happen while planning to move to a municipal fire service once the 8 Fire Districts normalize their operation as one district.

The final of the three issues of Mr. Henderson focus and his most important was taxes.  As a fiscally conservative Republican his goal is to run a cost effective, well managed municipal work force and keep spending down. Henderson’s 45 plus years of experience in government and the private engineering and construction sectors uniquely place him in a position to apply methods of efficient operations and to realize cost saving and keep taxes flat. Henderson stated, “I have seen how the township work force operates, overburdened with incompetent management and with no solid policies and procedures. I can streamline the workforce and bring pride back to our workers who’s moral is at an all-time low.”

Henderson’s closing remarks included a challenge to the current mayor to engage with him in a series of three town hall meetings over the next two months where he and the mayor and any other Republican Primary candidate could interact with the public discussing specific issues so that the Republican voters can choose the most capable primary candidate to move the township into the future.