FH Borough Council Incumbent Eric Jaeger

Editor's note: The following questionnaire was completed before Hurricane Sandy made landfall.

A Republican incumbent candidate for Fair Haven Council, Eric Jaeger, for the past six months has filled the unexpired term now-Mayor Ben Lucarelli was serving before being appointed to mayor after former Mayor Michael Halfacre resigned.

Jaeger, a former member of the borough's Planning Board, is seeking election to his first full three-year council term. There are two seats up for grabs on the six-member council.

Learn more about Jaeger from the following questionnaire issued to him and all other candidates by Patch:

• Name:  Eric R. Jaeger
• Age: 54
• Address:  40 Pine Cove Rd.
• How long have you lived in Fair Haven?  Nine years, 11 in Middletown before moving here.
• Please list your community affiliations, volunteer work, special interests, accomplishments while on council (special):

I volunteered for Lunchbreak, I am a volunteer for Holiday Express, have been active in my church and have been on Fair Haven's Finance Committee for two+ years.

I was on the Fair Haven Planning Board until I resigned to be on the Borough Council. I volunteer maintaining the Fair Haven Fields Natural Area and have been on council for only six months and am the borough liaison for the Fair Haven Fire Company.

• Occupation: Finance

• What do you feel makes you uniquely qualified for council?

I have three decades of experience in banking and investment banking which makes me sensitive to financial efficiency. 

High taxes are a competitive threat, and I am proud to be part of a team in Fair Haven which is always striving to run the borough efficiently while adding value to the residents. 

My volunteer work has made me a better person and I have developed the discipline to listen to all sides of an argument before drawing a conclusion which benefits all.

• What do you consider your greatest accomplishment on council?  Stay tuned. The best is yet to come.

• What change would you most like to affect on council in your next term and how do you propose to accomplish it?

We do not need drastic changes in Fair Haven, we need to stay with our core values of driving down the cost of service while improving the quality of service.

• Holding the line on taxes, preserving open space and protecting the diversity that has earned Fair Haven the distinctive reputation for being a quaint, down-to-earth town are all issues of paramount concern. How will you address these things? Feel free to use specific instances as examples, such as Fair Haven Fields, the DeNormandie property and development and zoning.

You said it best. We are all of those things and instilling that as part of my core values guides me in my decision making. 

There are many areas where we can continue to improve and I will touch on only a couple of them here:

i) continue the use of interlocal agreements where we buy the best and sell the best services among neighboring towns; ii) continue to improve our natural spaces so they can be enjoyed by all.  This includes preserving access to the river which is part of our heritage and also supporting the Natural Area as a primary asset of the town; iii) be business friendly so we can continue to have an active downtown area and iv) assure we have the ability to be a full life-cycle community and attract singles, young couples and seniors.  We want the town to be affordable for all and v) make decisions which can have a positive impact on the value of residential and commercial properties.