VOTE411 Voter Guide

I am a 51-year old, 17-year resident of West Windsor, along with my wife Deborah of 20 years and our two children who are in the WW-P schools. Locally, I have been active in youth sports and served as a coach / assistant coach for our local West Windsor soccer and baseball organizations, and co-hosted the little league’s charity fundraising grill for 2 years. My wife and I have fostered 15 rescue dogs over the past 7 years, 2 of which adopted and 4 others that have been placed with West Windsor families. As the Vice-Chair of Keep West Windsor NonPartisan (“Vote No” effort) in 2024, I passionately and tirelessly advocated for keeping partisan politics out of West Windsor, resulting in a resounding 2-1 margin of victory. I graduated from Lehigh University, where I have been a guest lecturer for the past 15 years, and was the keynote speaker for the 2025 accounting banquet for students and faculty, and served on the Accounting Advisory Board for 9 years (2 years as chair). As a CPA, I have 29 years of practical business experience in the world of accounting and finance. As a Partner in my firm, I deal with challenging issues on a daily basis and serve as a trusted advisor, people leader, and inclusive mentor. I have served on the boards of charitable organizations, the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, and Young Audiences of Eastern Pennsylvania. I care about serving West Windsor first, and have no ties to outside political influences. I believe that with my combination of community service and strong business leadership background, I will be an asset to West Windsor’s township council.

Our team's goals are outlined on our website, www.teammarathe4ww.com. My top priorities are fiscally responsible municipal budgeting to maintain low municipal taxes, public safety (police, fire, EMS) and pedestrian/bike/road safety, and strategically managing long-term residential growth and sprawl.

In my professional career, I routinely deal with issues where two sides see something differently. The key to resolving such differing viewpoints is to bring each side together and talk issues through. Sometimes, people may not have all the facts, and once they understand the facts that can help change their view. When one side hears the others perspective, this can help influence their thinking and make them more likely to reach a compromise. A local example of an area where there may be an opportunity to build consensus is street lighting; some residents want a lot more street lights, while some residents prefer not having "light pollution" in a suburban environment. Our plan is to increase the budget for street lighting, which the first focus to be on areas where it improves safety, such as intersections, crosswalks, etc.

Our local police department does not coordinate with ICE. The office of municipal councilperson that I am seeking does not have any role in interacting with ICE.

To elaborate on the topic of residential growth, this is a critical long-term strategic issue facing towns across the state. State-mandated obligations on affordable housing are based on macro-level formulas, which do not take into account impacts to roads, traffic, schools, etc. The state simply provides a number of units to build, and leaves it to each town to “figure it out”. For the new “fourth round” of affordable housing obligations for 2025-2035, some towns have chosen to just accept whatever number the state provided; for West Windsor this number was 661 units. Assuming we build affordable housing that both 1) integrates people into the community (which I fully support), and 2) is economically viable for a developer (thus avoiding the town subsidising the development, which impacts your taxes), historically West Windsor has aimed for a portion of new development to include 20-25% of affordable units. So assuming 25% “affordable” units, this translates to 2,644 total new units, in order to meet the state’s obligation. That’s a LOT of additional traffic, students, and services needed, and property taxes from new residential development is not sufficient to pay those costs without either 1) corresponding commercial development, or 2) an increase in your property taxes. Our town’s Planning Board has chosen to thoughtfully review the state’s numbers, which can be flawed (for example, including land not realistically developable in the equation, land already committed to another purpose, etc.), and proposed a reduced number of 238 units. I read our town’s 108-page plan shortly after it was published earlier this year, and I attended the planning board / council meeting where it was discussed (none of our opponents attended). Overall, I believe the plan is a well-reasoned response to meet the state's requirements. Managing future development by engaging land for other purposes (e.g., purchase for open space, preserving farmland, etc.) is a priority.

I am running for re-election to Township Council in order to improve upon our vibrant and welcoming community for people of all ages to live and thrive.

My decades of community service began in 1999 when I was elected to the WW-P Board of Education and then re-elected in 2002. During those years, the Board had to plan for hundreds of new students by building new schools and additions. Starting in 2005, I have been elected and re-elect to five terms on the Township Council having served as President and Vice President (currently). In addition, I served for many years on the Planning Board and as a member or liaison to various Township commissions and committees.

My community volunteerism includes being a Fire Police Officer for the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Co. #1 and on the BOD for the WW Lion’s Club. This is all part of my deep commitment to our residents.

Professional experience includes holding a real estate license in the referral network at Keller Williams-Princeton and as a radio news reporter/producer.

Priorities for the next term includes maintaining responsible budgeting, continuing to improve traffic and pedestrian safety, implementing the Complete and Green Streets Policy, advancing stormwater infrastructure improvements to mitigate flooding, developing a town center area on Rt. 571, completing the Vaughn Drive and Penns Neck Bypasses, and purchasing open space.

Public safety personnel increases for police/fire/EMS are always high on the priority list as the residential growth continues due to statutory obligations for affordable housing.

All these goals will be accomplished through careful planning, public engagement and approval of the municipal annual operating and capital budgets which reflect the needs of our community.

Sometimes when groups of people vigorously disagree, you need to bring them together, perhaps over coffee, in order to talk about what they actually can agree on. Focus on the positives for the community from each side. Develop relationships which will enhance better understandings of each other and issues.

In West Windsor, we strive to bring people together through a variety of events often organized by the WW Human Relations Council such as the celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

The Recreation Department organizes Community Day where residents can have fun and learn about local organizations. Several events each year serve to unite people and foster bonding.

Council members have no official role in interacting with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) as it is a federal law enforcement agency. The Township’s Police do not ask about immigration status during any interaction.

Other challenges besides managing the residential growth and bringing in more tax ratables, incudes specific issues related to various neighborhoods.

I often gather with residents to walk their neighborhoods to see firsthand what improvements they’d like addressed. These often include residential road repaving, tree pruning and additional street lights.

I will support additional budgetary funding for these important needs.

I proudly called West Windsor home since 2007. As a longtime resident, husband, and father to a West Windsor North graduate, I understands the values, challenges, and aspirations of local families because he’s lived them himself. His deep connection to the township and unwavering belief in its potential drive his candidacy for West Windsor Council. With over two decades of experience in technology and business development at companies like Oracle, Smartsheet, and Blue Prism, I brings an exceptional combination of innovation, financial discipline, and operational efficiency to public service. I led multimillion-dollar portfolios, driven strategic growth, and consistently exceeded performance goals; all skills that will directly benefit West Windsor’s budgeting, planning, and governance.

Public Safety - We have very poor roads, sidewalks, dangerous pedestrians crossings that needs to fixed. I will tirelessly to make sure that we fixed all of those in next 4 years. Environmental Stewardship - I will make sure that our community leader in environment responsibility. Make it easy to get permit to install home car chargers. Encourage community to install solar panels. Put Solar Panels on municipal buildings. Encourage out local business to participate in the environmentally responsible practices. Family-Focused Community Life - Keep our community park safe, clean and make sure there enough tennis courts, pickle ball courts and other recreational facilities. Smart, Sustainable Business Growth - Make it easy for local businesses to get permits to open their small businesses.

I will be very objective in my approach when it comes disagreements on issues. We currently have an issue where community is divided on weather warehouses to be built or houses to be built. My approach to this issue is that it is not either/or situation. The fundamental issue is that community is tired of paying high taxes and they are afraid that more houses will increase the taxes. The others believe that warehouses will make our community unsafe and won't deliver on the promise of extra revenue. My approach will to find a different solution which brings necessary revenue.

Town council can pass ordinance whether local law enforcement collaborates with ICE or to what extent they can participate.

The biggest challenge I see is that there is complete lack of transparency in the municipal business. We have degrading infrastructure and current administration has no plan to fix infrastructure. They have been office for decades and have done nothing to address these issues. I will make sure that we have transparent town council and administration is held accountable to the issues of our community.

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