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Asbury Park’s Cable Television Advisory Committee will host the city council candidates’ forums this evening.

Individuals who seek election in the Nov. 4 city council race will go head-to-head in the debate-style election forum at 7 p.m. in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Harold Daley Post #133, located at 701 Lake Ave. The League of Women Voters, Ocean Township chapter, will moderate.

Due to a change of government referendum that passed last November, all five seats on the council are up. Eight candidates seek to fill four council positions. Four candidates seek to be mayor. It will be the first time in the city voters in Asbury Park directly elect their mayor. The election takes place Nov. 4.

Candidates for mayor will take part in a separate debate beginning at 7 p.m. The council candidates’ debate will follow.

Mayoral candidates are incumbent Mayor Myra Campbell, incumbent Councilman John Moor of the Asbury Together ticket, Remond Palmer of the A-Team ticket, and Harold Suggs.

The A-Team for Council candidates are Duanne “King” Small, Kenneth Saunders, Jr., Rosetta Johnson and Derrick Grant. Running together on the Asbury Together ticket are incumbent Councilwoman Amy Quinn with Joe Woerner, Jessie “Coach K” Kendle and Barbara “Yvonne” Clayton.

Anyone who is unable to attend the forums will be able to view a televised recording of the forums beginning Oct. 27 on Cablevision channels 77  and 116, or on Verizon channels 28 and 30.

Campaign platforms along with bios of each council candidate appear below.

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Asbury Together’s campaign platform seeks a comprehensive approach to crime, a focus on jobs, financial common sense, open and responsive government and development that benefits everyone. For more information about Asbury Together, visit their website.

Amy Quinn

Amy Quinn is a 13-year Asbury Park resident and an attorney for the Community Health Law Project in Eatontown. The Law Project assists the disabled poor with their legal matters. Through negotiation, litigation, and advocacy, she works to combat discrimination, protect rights, and preserve independence and quality of life. Elected as a council member in May 2013, Quinn has sought ways to reduce the crime rate, involve residents in community decisions, create transparency in government by improving communication, and support small businesses. She serves as the vice chair of the city’s Environment and Shade Tree Commission. She believes resilience is going to be an ongoing concern for coastal areas, and that the city needs a permanent commission to coordinate the efforts to produce a long-term vision and attract funding to implement that vision.

Joe Woerner

Joe Woerner is a a lifelong resident of the Jersey Shore and an almost 10-year resident of Asbury Park. He is currently employed as an elementary teacher in Neptune Township Schools, is a member of the city’s Environment and Shade Tree Commissioner, a member of the Asbury Park Homeowners Association, former chair and board member of the Jersey Shore Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, and a US Peace Corps Volunteer. He has worked with the City’s youth by volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club and the West Side Community Center and, in 2005, was part of a group that began a free surf program for city kids through the Boys and Girls club. In 2006, Woerner helped organize the first Asbury Park Family Day at the Beach. Woerner believes the challenges of crime, increasing taxes, unemployment, and disillusioned youth must be met head-on with open and transparent governance. His experience has shown that when our community is engaged in honest dialogue and leaders do the work of bringing people together, we are capable of great things.

Jesse “Coach K” Kendle 

Jesse Kendle has lived in Asbury Park for over 60 years. He is a graduate of Asbury Park High School and earned a degree from University of Nebraska at Omaha. He was an all-conference football and basketball player at Nebraska, and his prospects for a professional football career in the NFL were cut short by an ankle injury while playing for the Long Island Chiefs. While in college, he worked for the Job Corps program and volunteered at the Boys and Girls club there. He has worked and coached, both football and basketball, at many Monmouth County schools, including Freehold Intermediate School, Red Bank Regional, Shore Regional, as well as Asbury Park Middle School and High School. In Asbury Park he has run recreation programs and volunteered as a coach for both little league and basketball. He is running for city council to give back to Asbury Park and help return our city to the happening, shining hub that I knew growing up.

Barbara “Yvonne” Clayton

Barbara Clayton moved to Asbury Park with her parents in 1954, attended Bangs Avenue and Bond Street Schools, and graduated from Asbury Park High School. Following high school, she attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio where she majored in social work and psychology and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree. Upon graduation, she worked for four years as a social worker for the City of New York and at New York University Medical Center before she joined New York Telephone, where she worked as an account executive in their corporate sales department before moving on to work for AT&T. She served on the board of the Chinatown YMCA for six years and received the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2002. She was an active member of Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem for over 25 years, serving as church treasurer, trustee, and usher. In 2011, she and her husband returned to Asbury Park. Clayton’s major concerns are crime, types and pace of development, revitalization of the West Side, and equitable use of the city’ s resources.

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The A-Team ticket’s campaign platform seeks to combat crime and create safe neighborhoods, create well-paying jobs with suitable living wages, cut taxes, eliminate wasteful spending while generating revenue for the city, to achieve consistent transparency in government, to provide structured recreational programming for youth and seniors, and to strengthe and supporting local businesses. For more information about the A-Team slate, visit their Facebook page. 

Duanne “King” Small  

Duanne “King” Small was born in the Asbury Park/Neptune area and raised in a single parent household.  As the owner of Kingz Group, a home improvement company, Small has been in the construction field for well over ten years, and has been working a general contractor for the past three years working in Asbury Park, Neptune and greater Monmouth County.  Prior to that, he worked for the Asbury Park Housing Authority as a maintenance repairman. He is the President of the Asbury Park chapter of the National Action Network and the Democratic Committeeman for Asbury Park’s third district. He also served on the city’s charter study commission. Small firmly believes that it is critical to the economy of the City of Asbury Park to employ Asbury Park residents while giving our youth and their parents’ access to training and other opportunities.

 

Kenneth Saunders, Jr. 

Kenneth Saunders, Jr. is current Asbury Park Board of Education member. He works as a health care leader with extensive experience in surgical services. He is currently finishing up 13-month contract working as an interim operating room manager with a myriad of responsibilities that encompass operational efficiency resulting in enhanced patient care. He is ambitious as well as motivated to provide exceptional customer service to all patients in the community that he serves. He strives for a cohesive work environment bringing surgeons, anesthesia providers, and staff to a higher level of professionalism resulting in an increased productivity. Saunders has a “can do” personality with demonstrable leadership skills with excellent interpersonal relationships throughout surgical services.

 

 

 

Derrick Grant

Derrick Grant is the Associate Minister under the leadership of his father, Reverend Dennis Grant, Pastor of Asbury Evangelistic Outreach Ministries, a pillar in the community for the last 43 years. Through the years, Grant has volunteered at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility and Albert C Wagner Facility in Bordentown, NJ. He works in the areas of insurance and real estate at Asher Properties, LLC and is the father of two children. Grant currently serves as the vice-president of the Asbury Park chapter of the National Action Network.

 

 

Rosetta Johnson

Rosetta M. Johnson is a retired city employee and has been a resident of Asbury Park for 54 years. She has one daughter, Shadasia Rose Johnson, who is currently enrolled in the Asbury Park School District. Rosetta graduated from Asbury Park High School and has a master’s degree in criminal justice from Monmouth University, and an associates degree in social science from Brookdale Community College. She is a former intern with the Obama Administration in 2008. Rosetta specializes in county, state and federal grants. Ms. Johnson’s goals for running include addressing quality of life issues for city residents, social concerns, and to ensure that no child in Asbury Park is left behind.

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