Beach Haven Council candidates to speak at town meeting Sept. 27

A town meeting for Beach Haven taxpayers to get to know the four candidates running for the two open council seats in November’s election will be held at Surflight Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 10 a.m. The meeting, hosted by the Beach Haven Taxpayers’ Association, will also include a question and answer session with the contenders.

Photo via Google
The meeting will be held at Surflight Theatre.

“The majority of taxpayers in Beach Haven are not eligible to vote in local elections due to their primary residence being elsewhere; we’d like all taxpayers in town to have a voice when it comes to municipal issues,” urged Barbara Cona, president of BHTA. “Saturday’s town hall meeting will offer an opportunity for taxpayers and business owners to have their voices heard while learning more about the candidates running for council. The three council members who will remain in office will also be in attendance for our meeting, so they, too, will hear taxpayers concerns. ...

“Town officials worked tirelessly to bring Beach Haven back after (Superstorm) Sandy. Beach Haven is a special place; our residents are passionate about our town,” she added.

Certain areas of concern include joint Island-wide services, property tax reform, revitalization of the Bay Avenue business district and the relocation of the borough hall, Cona said.

“We’re anxious to hear from our candidates on these and other pertinent issues.”

All current members of the Beach Haven Land Use Board, the candidates include Don Kakstis, retired executive director at Johnson and Johnson Corp.’s worldwide engineering and construction services, whose goal is to “preserve and enhance Beach Haven as a family vacation destination and a great place to live.”

Tom Lynch, who has over 40 years in business management and retired from BDP International as global director of human resources, administration and employee relations, aims to focus on replenishing Beach Haven beaches, growing the business/retail community, rebuilding the town hall, ensuring the new pump station is built to standards and promoting the 125th anniversary of the town.

Ken Muha, owner of the local Bagel Shack, who spent 15 years as an engineer building plants all over the world, is committed to stimulating new business in the community by “looking into each individual situation as it stands on its own, evaluating it as such, and then making any decisions based on the merits of that particular situation.”

Bob Wynkoop, retired senior director of compensation and benefits at Ball Corp. as well as regional human resources director at Middle East of Bechtel Corp., plans to “preserve a family friendly and cordial atmosphere in a cost-effective manner."

–Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.