Three candidates are running for three four-year terms on the Lawrence Township Council on Nov. 7—incumbent John Ryan and newcomers Olympia I’liou-Perry and Patricia Hendricks Farmer.
All three are Democrats and will join the other two Democrats on the council at the beginning of their terms in January 2024.
The Lawrence Gazette asked the three to provide biographical information about themselves and answer several questions about township issues. Their answers are presented below.
Farmer is a lifelong resident of Lawrence Township. A product of St. Ann’s School and Lawrence High School, she attended Temple University, where she studied journalism and public relations. She is married to Robert Farmer, and the two share a son, Andrew.
She has served as a member of the Lawrence Township School Board since 2021 and ran for the board due to her “overwhelming passion for making education accessible, equitable, and inclusive for all.”
Farmer has worked with the board to incorporate a diverse and inclusive curriculum, to implement more expansive professional development for teaching staff, to provide mental health resources for students, particularly during the pandemic, and to amplify platforms that allow students, teachers, parents and constituents to voice concerns and contributions.
Farmer says that her experience working as an administrator at an infant to eighth grade school prepared her for the school board. She was elected board president and is the first Afro-Latina president of the school board.
She currently serves on the board’s Negotiations, Growth and Redevelopment and Partnership committees. Past school board committees that she has served on as chair, include Curriculum Instruction and Professional Development, Community Relations and Legislative Affairs, Equity and Diversity and Guidance and Mental Health.
She has been active in parent volunteerism both as a charter member of the Princeton Montessori Parent Association and as co-chair and past treasurer of Princeton Common Ground, a volunteer-led consortium of 16 private independent Princeton schools that provide parent education lecture series.
She has also been active in civic organizations, such as Lawrence Neighbors Together, the Lawrence Democratic Club, and she is currently the first vice president of the Eggerts Crossing Civic League. She is a notary for the state of New Jersey. She is also the recipient of the Mercer County Democratic Committee 2023 Rising Star Award.
Perry has been a Lawrence Township resident for 21 years. She and her husband, Miguel, have one child—their daughter, Madeleine.
She has been a member of the local Democratic party for more than 20 years. Since 2016, she has been the treasurer of the Mercer County Federation of Democratic Women, and for the past 4 years she has served as an elected Lawrence Township Committee member advocating for fair and balanced government leadership. In 2022, she was elected to serve as the president of the Lawrence Township Democratic Club. She is currently serving her 2nd term.
Perry is a licensed life and health insurance professional with 15 years’ experience serving clients in New Jersey and the Tri-State area. She is also a former buyer for Macy’s and traveled the world as a product manager for Avon Products, Inc.
Perry has worked with local community leaders to stop warehouse development that would negatively impact the town. She recently completed her master’s degree in legal studies from Northeastern University with a focus on public policy and compliance.
Ryan has lived in south Lawrence with his wife, Linda, for 38 years. A high school graduate, Ryan is retired from the UPS Tractor Trailer Division and a union member with Local 177.
His community involvement includes being a member of the planning board; patriotic committee; the 112th Field Artillery Association in Lawrence; and the Sons of American Legion Post 458.
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The candidates jointly answered the following questions that were posed by the Lawrence Gazette.
How should the town encourage construction of more commercial ratables and attract more businesses?
As we enter a post-pandemic era, the question of encouraging construction of more commercial ratables and attracting businesses distills down to how we encourage those things in a smart way.
We need to make sure that development in the township is integrated with every other part of town, through considering things like walkability, environmental impacts, and proximity to schools and neighborhoods. This also includes being mindful of overdevelopment in some areas, while also finding areas in need of development in others.
Above all, we need to make sure that ratables that come to Lawrence Township are good stewards of the community and provide a net-benefit to our residents. This is best accomplished through Council’s ability to appoint thoughtful and discerning members of the community to boards and commissions (such as the Zoning and Planning boards) that make the majority of development decisions in Lawrence Township.
It also includes ensuring that the process for businesses interfacing with township officials is transparent and fair. In Lawrence Township, everybody is given fair and equitable treatment, development decisions should be no different.
How do you feel about the proliferation of warehouses being proposed and built in the region? Do you think this is a good use of land?
As a ticket, we look at the proliferation of warehouses in New Jersey with great concern. We understand the economic need for such businesses, and they do serve an important role in the mix of ratables in our community. However, the public safety and health of our citizens and environment must come first and projects like the Bridge Point 8 project in West Windsor are an example of where those considerations are not being made.
We have the regulatory framework in this state to curb this proliferation and as new and returning members of Lawrence Township Council, we’ll use everything–including our voices–to see to it that any proposed warehouse in the region is beneficial to Lawrence residents.
What are some challenges facing the township that you believe deserve more attention?
As our township continues to grow and the nature of how we communicate with residents evolves, we need to be mindful of how we can be more transparent in how we exercise our role as elected officials. In the past year, we saw an important step-forward in the live streaming of meetings for Township residents. That was a good first step, but we can do more.
We can improve communication with residents through ensuring that we have robust resources on our Township website that provide citizens with the tools they need to interact with Township government.
From more informative meeting agendas for citizens to step-by-step guides for businesses on how to file permits and applications, we need to bring Lawrence Township into the 21st Century of communications and transparency.
How would you work to help control municipal taxes? Are there any areas of the budget you feel need to be looked at? Are there any areas of revenue that can be explored?
Our approach to municipal taxes must be exhaustive and holistic. During this last budget cycle, there were calls from community members for more information about the budget and even for dedicated Township Council led meetings focused on the budget.
By going line-by-line, bringing in department heads, and chipping away at or redirecting appropriations, we can fight the rising costs of services in this Township, rising costs that are frequently the result of national economic conditions beyond our control.
But we must also be creative. We need to look at transformative ideas that will bring dramatic savings to our municipal taxpayers, while still providing the quality of service that Lawrence Township is known for. This can be done through shared services with the County or other local municipalities, or through taking a deeper look at bringing previously privatized services in house–such as trash collection and our emergency dispatch service.
Approaches like these will not only keep our taxes stable, but they will also provide an immediate economic benefit to the town. Lawrence tax dollars spent locally benefit the entire community, including our tax rate.
John Ryan, Olympia I’liou-Perry and Patricia Hendricks Farmer,
