HOWELL - Both candidates for mayor — Republican John Leggio and Democrat John Hughes — view taxes, housing, overdevelopment and ethical accountability as the most important issues facing the township going forward, perhaps in part because both men have been questioning the direction of Howell for years.
"We disagree on national issues; I know we do. We disagree probably on state issues. We are talking about Howell issues and we are both running on Howell issues, " Hughes said. "Bottom line is you're voting for Howell, and you need to figure out who should be leading that fight because it is a fight. The party control, the puppet-master stuff that goes on behind the scenes, that all has to come out."
Howell Township has been a Republican stronghold for years despite having a Democratic mayor since 2016. However, partisan politics have long been criticized in town, with some people pushing a move toward a nonpartisan system altogether . Residents have been vocal against rising taxes and development projects such as one proposed by Resource Engineering LLC, which is owned by the family of former Republican Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French. The firm wants to redevelop a 10.4-acre Randolph Road parcel from a stump grinding facility to a much larger waste transfer facility.
Leggio, 52, first moved to Howell in 1986 and operated a landscape business for over 25 years before selling it due to health problems. Since retiring and recovering from multiple back infusions, he won the Republican nomination for mayor over incumbent Deputy Mayor Ian Nadel, who had the county party endorsement.
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On the night he won, Leggio told the Asbury Park Press that it was " the first step in making serious change here in Howell Township ."
"No strings attached, I speak truth to power," Leggio said. "Even if I might be wrong sometimes, if I say something, that is how I feel. We need some new leadership in town. I just felt two sitting council members that didn't earn nothing — not one campaign promise was fulfilled — and now you're asking people to make you mayor? That is crazy."
Leggio has served on the planning board since 2020. In 2021, when then-Deputy Mayor Thomas Russo resigned, Leggio was one of three names provided by the Howell GOP to fill the vacant seat, but Suzanne M. Brennan was chosen instead. Last year, Leggio crossed party lines when the Republican-controlled council chose not to reappoint him to the Planning Board, but he accepted the planning board appointment as the designee of Mayor Theresa Berger, a Democrat.
"Community over politics. I am not beholden to no one," Leggio said. "I haven't taken any money from our committee in town, (or) from the county. When it comes to the reorganization meeting, if I win Nov. 5, I don't have to vote for anyone who donated to my campaign. If I don't like the contracts, I am going to vote no against some of these guys. We should be voting for what is best for the town. We shouldn't be voting because it is pay to play."
Hughes, 49, has lived in Howell for seven years, and is the director of corporate compliance and ethics for a global civil engineering firm. The company is a major government contractor, "so I ensure that government funds are not being misused and that all government regulations and laws are complied with."
Pushing for an ethics committee
He is running on reestablishing a municipal ethics committee.
"There is no reason that a council person should ever vote on a contract for a campaign donor," Hughes said. "You cannot vote for people literally funding your campaign. The idea of it is crazy, so that absolutely needs to be in a code."
Mayor Berger is not seeking reelection this year. Matthew Filosa ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination for a four-year term as mayor. However, Filosa had to step away in July and the Monmouth County Democratic Party appointed Hughes, a first-time political candidate, to replace him on the ballot.
Longtime Councilwoman Evelyn Malsbury O’Donnell has the Republican nomination for the one four-year term on the township council, while Rebecca Scott is her Democratic opponent.
Currently, Mayor Berger is the only Democrat along with four Republican councilmembers.
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In October 2020 , Hughes filed an ethics complaint with the township against former Deputy Mayor Pamela Richmond , who has since left the council. Hughes said because Howell does not have an approved ethics code with the Local Finance Board, they were unable to investigate the allegations, so it could only be handled by council.
"My understanding is that they hired an outside attorney to investigate the allegation, but that was never officially disclosed to me, and I was never contacted or interviewed by anyone. I also was never provided with the information of any resolution, so I guess you can say it was just buried," Hughes said.
The council established an ethics committee in June 1997 to give residents a way to file complaints about municipal officials or employees without going to the state. But six years later, the council dissolved the committee in a party-line vote. Then-Mayor Timothy Konopka, a Democrat, said the other four council members, all Republicans, had improperly plotted behind closed doors to get rid of the committee.
He said Howell needs oversight, especially under the current form of government, where the township manager has power but is not elected.
"We have had many conflicts raised with both elected officials and employees, things like inappropriate relationships with subordinates , awarding contracts to campaign contributors, and nepotism. All of these issues need to be dealt with by an oversight body," Hughes said.
The municipal ethics committee would be bipartisan and comprised of qualified volunteers — not elected officials — who will be responsible for drafting the new municipal ethics code. The committee would also be empowered to review conflict of interest concerns for municipal employees and officials, elected and appointed.
"This body will allow employees to report fraud, waste and abuse within our community for independent review. So in an instance where an employee is raising violations and the department is not acting, there will be another avenue to report prior to filing a lawsuit like we are seeing too often within our police department," Hughes said.
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Howell changed by development
Hughes has been very critical of what he calls overdevelopment throughout the township.
"We just see it everywhere. We have farms that are being sold, being turned into new developments, they're being turned into warehouses. It is really changing us from an agricultural community to a full-on suburb now," Hughes said.
He criticized developments like Monmouth Manor as "million dollar-plus homes being put on postal-stamp sized lots."
"We are a working-class blue-collar town. We need houses that working people can afford to live in and that (kind of development) is not it and that seems to be the only thing that is getting approved," Hughes said. "These big $1 million homes on tiny lots, it is not the culture of our community.
Hughes' plan would be to address the issue in the township's master plan, zoning and planning ordinances by putting put restrictions on size of buildings based on lot sizes. This would require changes and debates, "but we do not want our community to end up like Staten Island."
Hughes also said any businesses that owns residential property for rent should be subject to annual inspection by code enforcement to ensure that the property is still maintained to code.
"These companies buying single-family homes must follow the existing ordinance and disclose changes in tenancy and be subject to an inspection anytime the lease changes. Any subletting must be prohibited," Hughes said.
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Investors buying homes
Leggio echoed those concerns and other quality-of-life issues.
He said there is a shift in demographics with investors buying and renting out homes out to multiple families, "causing major concerns on some of these blocks."
"From what I hear from residents, there's garbage on the side of the house, multiple kids coming out of those homes using the school system, overwhelming the school system," Leggio said. "It has driven some of the people obviously to sell their homes. We don't want that."
Hughes said families are competing for homes with businesses that "are going to take them, rent them and then not monitor them."
"These renters are putting more people in than are allowed by code. Code enforcement can't do anything because of the way our ordinances are written, and that needs to be changed," Hughes said
"You want to come into Howell, buy a home, live in a nice area, with nice safe streets, and nice neighborhoods? Please move in," Leggio said. "The old timers in town, they are aging out and a lot of homes are going up for sale. We have brand new families moving in."
"We saw a 4% increase on our municipal property tax in 2023," Hughes said. "Then miraculously because they found a surplus in 2024 they didn't increase, during an election year. They just play games, they didn't need the 4% in 2023 they overtaxed us so they can have 0% to run on in 2024."
Leggio said the 2023 municipal increase was one of the largest in a number of years and "they normally don't do that" and now "a lot of the residents are feeling the squeeze with the taxes."
Leggio cited a 7% increase by the Howell Township Board of Education and a 8.9% increase by the Freehold Regional High School district as two big increases residents are dealing with.
Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com @CharlesDayeAPP
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: These two Howell mayor candidates have both bucked the system
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