LETTER: Hickey backed for Bedminster Township Committee

TO THE EDITOR: As a current and longtime resident of both Crestmont and Parkside, and Colin Hickey, as a 15-year former resident of Stone Run, we understand the unique needs of The Hills.

We take seriously our commitments as the Bedminster Township Committee liaisons to The Hills, representing all the residents who live here.

If you are a reader of Bedminster Buddies or Nextdoor, you know that power and cable outages have been two of the most persistent issues that have plagued The Hills. And Bedminster residents look to the Township Committee for help.

Enter Colin with his extensive background in tech and business.

Colin is the guy working the phones and providing updates on social media whenever there is a power outage.

But more importantly, he’s been the one holding JCP&L accountable and ensuring they invest in our community and local infrastructure. That’s meant new cabling, switches and transformers, along with a commitment from JCP&L that they alone will be on the hook to replace failing laterals, as opposed to the burden being placed on the home owner associations (HOA).

He’s even testified in front of the Board of Public Utilities, calling for JCP&L to make additional investments in tree trimming. And while they make our town beautiful, downed trees and branches are the leading cause of power outages both here in Bedminster and throughout the state.

While working or attending school from home during Covid was a game-changer, it became apparent to all of us that the capacity of the networks in The Hills was completely insufficient.

Colin has been working feverishly to get the cable infrastructure in The Hills upgraded to Fiber-to-the-Home at no expense to the town or Hills residents.

His work has directly resulted in 17 of the 21 Bedminster HOAs having signed agreements with Altice to upgrade their local neighborhood networks to fiber connectivity, with more to follow. This upgrade will significantly improve the experience of those working, studying and playing from home, as well as improve the value of our homes without additional investment out of our own pockets.

Last but not least, Colin’s role as a resident and Hills advocate led him to champion - and win - a fight to prevent a significant rate increase being contemplated by N.J. American Water. These days we are grateful for any way we can find to decrease the cost of running our homes.

Colin walks the walk and talks the talk. He firmly believes in using the power of local government to amplify the voices of our residents and get results for us.

Please join me in voting for Colin Hickey this fall for Bedminster Township Committee.

RENEE MARESKI

Crestmont Road
Bedminster Township

Editor's note: This Letter to the Editor originally appeared in The Bernardsville News.