David Varano, Republican candidate, was elected for town council board once again. He won with a total of 11,044 votes. Varano was running in a field alongside Jill Sasso, Cathay Praiser, Jason Destefano, Linda Nadrone, and Jim Freeswick. He has been a councilman since 2017. Varano is a Wayne native and loved growing up in Wayne, which is the reason why he has such a strong desire to keep Wayne safe and wonderful. From being a member of the council, he has had the opportunity to listen, look over and vote on site plan applications for homeowners, residential landowners, and local business. Varano has also had the opportunity to help people in town and help improve Wayne. One of Varanos main goals is to create and strengthen relationships with local businesses and continue to support local groups. Promoting diversity, inclusion, and equality is another major thing that Varano wants to work on. He feels that this is something Wayne needs to do and will help improve our beloved town.

A subject that puts a wedge between the members of the board is affordable housing. Not everyone agrees that affordable housing should be put up. This residential development, AvalonBay, would be located on Barbour Pond Road and would be 473 units. Some of the board members feel that this will bring more attraction to local businesses, which is why AvalonBay should get the go-ahead. On the other hand, others feel that having this new residential property will bring in too many people, causing the population to grow and overcrowded the town. Also, adding this new housing property may mean that taxes will rise and  new schools may need to be opened. 

After a long day and night of voting, Varano was announced to be one of the winners and therefore will keep his position on the town council.

After finding out the results of the election, Varano posted this on his facebook account: “Thank you to the residents of Wayne Township for another 4 years. We will continue to work on behalf of each and every one of you to uphold the principles and ideals that make this town great!”

I was able to speak to Varano and learned how he was feeling after this win: “First, thank you to the people of Wayne for putting their faith in me for another four years. It has been an honor to serve this community and now that election season is over I am excited to get back to the business of keeping this town the great place that it is. Our residents have sent a clear message that they are happy with their local government leadership and I am energized by their love and support.”

A congratulations is definitely in order!