Referendums Pass, Uncontested Candidates Elected To Council

The residents of New Providence have spoken.

Both the Open Space Fund Referendum and the Liquor Consumption Licenses Referendum passed by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to unofficial results from the borough. The Open Space Fund referendum received 1,352 "yes" votes and 948 "no" votes, while 1,561 residents voted "yes" for the Liquor Consumption Licenses referendum versus 782 who voted "no."

All three council candidates ran uncontested in this election. Councilman Armand Galluccio and Dr. Bob Robinson were elected to 3-year council terms with 1,668 and 1,766 votes, respectively. Councilman Alan Lesnewich was elected to an unexpired term, with 1,702 votes.

At a small gathering on Tuesday night, the candidates told Patch they are pleased with the election results.

“I am really happy [both referendums passed] because I think there’s a lot of things we need to do in town and we can move forward with them now,” Lesnewich said. “We have a really solid majority of people who are behind what needs to be done, which gives me a lot of comfort in terms of what we have to do. I’m thrilled to be able to move forward.”

Dr. Robinson, who served on council three years ago and was elected to another 3-year council term, said he is excited to be back.

“My little brief time was spent with my family, taking care of mom who was not doing so well, and I’m thrilled to be back in New Providence, helping New Providence, giving back to a town I love,” he said.

Galluccio, who was elected to his second 3-year council term, said he feels good about being re-elected even though his first year on council was tough.

“My first year on [council], it was everything with Oakwood Park. People said, ‘you’re running again after all the heat you took with that?’ And I said, ‘yeah, you know what, that goes with the town. I enjoy the town. I love the town. New Providence is a great town,'” he said.

Having always been active in the borough, Galluccio said he’s hoping to do even more during his second term.

“I know not everybody is going to be pleased with my decisions and I understand that,” Galluccio said. “You can’t please everyone, you just try to do the best for New Providence. It’s a great town, we want to continue making it a great town.”

Lesnewich was just elected to another unexpired term and said he never had anything to do with politics before he interviewed for the council position and was appointed to an unexpired term by the council last January.

“I was flabbergasted when I was voted in 5-0 by the council and I had no idea what I was getting into. The one thing I found in my 11 months now is that the people who are on the council, and the fulltime workers in the borough, are one hundred percent in favor of doing what’s right for the community and so I really enjoy working with the other members of the council because everyone has the same agenda and it’s to put the borough first,” Lesnewich said. “It’s unbelievable. There are no hidden agendas on the council, which was an eye-opener for me. It’s very interesting and we all trust each other.”

Liquor Consumption Licenses Referendum

Residents voted in favor of this referendum by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to unofficial results. On Tuesday night, the candidates agreed that the would only be sold one at a time.

“I think the liquor license is going to be phased in slowly and carefully and thoughtfully and responsibly, and New Providence is going to end up with wonderful restaurants over the course of the years, restaurants that reflect the character of New Providence,” Robinson said.

Lesnewich said it’s a huge deal that this referendum passed and will take some time to implement.

“I know there’s a couple of professionals in town who have indicated they may like to open a restaurant in town,” Lesnewich said. “But it’s a very, very sophisticated business and hopefully this will start something that will start generating income for downtown, interest for downtown and builds on the downtown. This is a great thing.”

Galluccio, who thinks the borough needed liquor licenses for a long time, said the Planning Board is now working on a draft ordinance for selling liquor licenses, which he hopes the borough council will receive and have a chance to vote on before the end of the year.

“It’s just going to revitalize downtown. We can get some nice restaurants in and people will still have a choice,” he said. “I feel once you get a liquor license, it’s also going to attract other restaurants, [whose owners may think], ‘you know what, I don’t have to have a liquor license; I’ll come in and get the overflow from that.’ So I think it’s going to be a good revitalization of the whole town, not just the downtown, but Central Avenue – everything.”

Open Space Fund Referendum

Residents also voted in favor of this referendum by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to unofficial results. All three candidates agreed that after the Open Space Fund Ordinance is amended , those monies would be used in a responsible way.

“I think open space is going to be treated with the care and respect that the people of New Providence expect. The mayor and council will thoughtfully and openly take the funds and do with them as the people of New Providence see,” Robinson said. “It’ll be open policy where good things happen for New Providence.”

Galluccio said expanding the use of the Open Space Fund doesn’t mean those funds would only be used for improving active recreation facilities in the borough.

“I know people are thinking, ‘oh, it’s just going to be used for parks, it’s for recreation.’ It’s not; it’s going to be used for everything,” Galluccio said. “It’s going to be used for passive recreation, whether it’s park benches or walking trails. So it’s not just going to be used for the playing fields.”

Lesnewich, who has been heavily involved with recreation organizations in the borough for years, said he thinks the borough’s facilities can be brought up to the same level as all of the services the borough currently has by expanding the usage of the Open Space Fund.

“I was a little nervous because it was so quiet in town but I think by the vote, people have said, ‘we want to make the town better’ and with the open space, I think the people understood that the council wants to do improvements in a financially responsible way,” said Lesnewich, who is a part of the New Providence Recreational Facility Capital Improvement Committee, President of the New Providence Athletic Foundation, and played a major role with the installation of artificial turf and field lighting at Lieder Field.

Although there are not any particular facilities that the council is looking to improve first, Lesnewich said the council is “working with some third parties to try and find the right spots that will allow us to maximize the use of the fields.”

Last year at this time, the Oakwood Park referendum created a lot of debate throughout the borough and . As he originally stated at the public forum in October, Lesnewich reiterated that Oakwood Park is not a priority in terms of turf.

“Oakwood Park remains a very valuable piece of property and in terms of bringing it back to the condition it was many moons ago, we want to get it there, but not to create a turf complex,” he said.

Lesnewich also said he hopes the council can amend the existing Open Space Fund ordinance immediately so council can begin making decisions on what to improve first.

“Right now is a great time. Money is cheap; we found out when we did the lighting project that because the economy is down, those types of lights came in $25K less than what we anticipated,” he said. “It’s 10% [less] so we’d like to get something going and I think one of the first places we’re going to start is on the baseball facilities. Then we’re not just going to bite off a big project. We’re going to do things in a rational way. I’m excited. I’ve been here 58 years and the fields haven’t been fixed in 58 years.”

Voter Turnout

According to unofficial results, voter turnout in New Providence was low this year.

Out of the 7,211 registered voters, just 2,462 (34.16%) participated in this election.

Note: All results are unofficial until certified by the Board of Elections.