HOWELL – This upcoming election, two Howell residents are running for mayor – John Leggio and John Hughes. Both representing different political parties, The Howell Times gave both gentlemen a chance to advocate for themselves as well as to answer a few questions about their beliefs and how they see themselves in the mayoral position.
These questions asked for information about their past as well as how they see Howell’s future. They were also prompted to respond with what they believe are the biggest issues in town, and how they plan to resolve them.
Their responses have been condensed and grammatically edited for use in this article.
John Hughes (Democrat)
Hughes works as a Director of Corporate Compliance and Ethics for a major civil engineering firm based in New York City. Here, he does work investigating fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption for both the government and private sectors.
He does not have any experience in public office, but has been active in civic groups as a coach for youth sports as well as a board member on the Howell Democratic Club.
Hughes listed a few issues in Howell he feels strongly about, including warehouse development in commercial areas, tax burdens on families, lack of affordable homes for seniors and young families, unregulated rental properties, and a reputation of bad business.
To combat these issues, Hughes provided these solutions:
Warehouse development: “We need to reopen our Master Plan and use common sense when zoning to avoid heavy commercial traffic on local roads and keep them in the areas that are supported by multi-lane highways. We also need builders concessions on all of these projects so that the developer is contributing to infrastructure changes required and requiring renewable energy be included to limit the disruption of our overburdened power grid.”
Tax burdens on families: “First thing we need to do is cut spending where appropriate, but cuts will only help so much, we need to fix our ratable issues. Too much commercial property is sitting vacant on Route 9 and we need to get that fixed.” He also states that considering marijuana business could provide financial assistance to Howell.
Lack of affordable homes for seniors/young families: Along with suggesting the revamp of some smaller abandoned homes in the areas for young families, “We need to work with developers that are willing to come into our town and build an affordable senior living community.”
Unregulated rental properties: “We need to rewrite our ordinances to include any property that is owned by a business [to include] all occupants must be registered on the property, change of residents necessitates a new inspection and CO and annual inspections to protect the community and the occupants.”
Bad business reputation: “Council needs to lead the charge in attracting business back into Howell and working with the existing businesses to figure out what we can do better.”
In regards to any new or additional changes he would like to make to the town, Hughes would like to reintroduce the Local Ethics Board as well as reevaluate some parks and fields for more consistent use in youth sports.
John Leggio (Republican)
Leggio was the owner and operator of a landscaping business for 25 years. In 2022, he closed and sold the business for health reasons.
While he has no experience in civic groups, Leggio has served two terms on the Howell Planning Board since 2019.
According to Leggio, Howell’s biggest issues concern overwhelming rental properties, as well as the distribution of property taxes.
“There are a few bad actors putting multiple families in single family homes, overwhelming the roadways in certain neighborhoods, overwhelming our school system and creating safety concerns for first responders in the event of an emergency. The other issue continues to be property taxes with more than half of our taxes going towards our school systems,” he said.
To combat these issues, Leggio said:
“I believe we need to be more transparent with the public about projects and we need more accountability with our unelected administration when it comes to dealing with our residents and their concerns. I feel the mayor appointments to land use boards and committees should not be made by an unelected manager and must be returned to the mayor.”
