On Tuesday, May 14, Verona voters will go to the polls to fill two seats on the Verona Town Council. Current Councilman Alex Roman is up for re-election to a new four-year term, as is current Deputy Mayor Michael Nochimson. The two are being challenged by John Fio Rito, a U.S. Army veteran and real estate developer; Christine McGrath, a member and former president of the Junior Woman’s Club and Essex County chapter leader of the gun reform group Moms Demand Action; and John Quattrocchi, a financial industry executive who served for 15 years on the Verona Board of Education.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day. If you do not know your polling place, you can find it here. MyVeronaNJ.com will report the results as soon as they are available.
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Beginning in early April, MyVeronaNJ.com asked the candidates to answer a weekly question on an issue of importance to Verona. You can read all the questions and all the answers through these links, or use the candidate links below to see individual views:
- Town Council Candidates Question 1: Overdevelopment
- Town Council Candidates Question 2: Shared Services
- Town Council Candidates Question 3: Infrastructure
- Town Council Candidates Question 4: The Budget
- Town Council Candidates Question 5: Goals & Obstacles
INDIVIDUAL ANSWERS
John Fio Rito
Campaign website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Fio Rito on overdevelopment
- Fio Rito on shared services
- Fio Rito on infrastructure
- Fio Rito on the budget question
- Fio Rito on goals & obstacles
Christine McGrath
Campaign website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- McGrath on overdevelopment
- McGrath on shared services
- McGrath on infrastructure
- McGrath on the budget question
- McGrath on goals & obstacles
Michael Nochimson
Campaign website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Nochimson on overdevelopment
- Nochimson on shared services
- Nochimson on infrastructure
- Nochimson on the budget question
- Nochimson on goals & obstacles
John Quattrocchi
Campaign website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Quattrocchi on overdevelopment
- Quattrocchi on shared services
- Quattrocchi on infrastructure
- Quattrocchi on the budget question
- Quattrocchi on goals & obstacles
Alex Roman
Campaign website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Roman on overdevelopment
- Roman on shared services
- Roman on infrastructure
- Roman on the budget question
- Roman on goals & obstacles
CANDIDATES FORUM
On Wednesday, May 1, the Junior Woman’s Club of Verona held a forum for candidates that was moderated by the League of Women Voters.
The event presented the candidates with questions on open space and overdevelopment, affordable housing, the challenges of governing in Verona, downtown business development, taxes and budget issues, government communications with residents, environmental policy and sustainability, water quality and stormwater run-off, and the use of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) monies collected from several developments in town. You can click on any of those terms to jump to that part of the event, or watch the Forum in full below:
FACT CHECKS
This campaign has given rise to several fact checks:
- Fact Check: Town Council Candidates Forum
- Fact Check: Downtown Business Improvement
- Fact Check: Verona’s Water Quality
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Readers have submitted letters of support for candidates. You can read all of them here. The last day that letters will be published is Sunday, May 12.
OTHER RESOURCES
Some of the candidates in this race have spent heavily on their campaigns. MyVeronaNJ.com reported on their fundraising and spending reports. Verona’s municipal budgets from 2009 to 2019 are here. The town government’s court filings and correspondence on affordable housing are here, and you can also read MyVeronaNJ.com’s reporting on affordable housing.
