Politics & Government

Links Enters Council Confident in Business Approach

New council member interested in shared services, privatization.

You can say, as with much in his life, it was his kids that helped motivated Don Links to run for a seat on the Madison Borough Council.

The proud father of 10-year-old twins Paul and Kim is very involved in their lives, especially on the recreation side.

In fact, there isn't a sport he hasn't coached that his children play. But one thing Madison in general has never really had is a glut of playing fields and facilities. Obtaining new land and developing existing property has been a priority for the borough, and one which Links holds close to his heart.

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"I became more interested in Madison Borough politics about 3 1/2 years ago when the turf issue and the field issues came up," Links said. "Having coached those sports, I knew the problems we had. Then I started going to council meetings – I disagreed at times. I also became interested in property taxes in Madison, how we spend our tax dollars.

"So I started going to council meetings. The more I did that, the more frustrated I sometimes became. At some point a couple of people I knew in Madison said, 'Why don't you run.' "

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Those issues and that line of thinking helped push Links to run in the previous election, and why he ran again this time around after losing in 2008. But it's not the only platform he says feels strongly about.

"I think the first thing we need to really address is the budget" Links said. "I think 2010 is going t0 be very, very difficult. However, I believe the decisions we make in 2010 are going to help us in 2011, which I believe could be the most difficult budget in many, many years."

Links feels his business experience, and those of his fellow elected republicans from the November election, will help.

Links works directly for the CEO of Logical Design Studios in Florham Park, where he helps run the business side for the software solutions company, which works with Fortune 500 companies.

Links, who ran successfully on a ticket with Sam Cerciello and Dr. Vincent Esposito, also looks to his running mates when speaking about the business angle he feels will help Madison.

"I was instrumental in getting Sam on the ticket this year because my feeling is we needed more business people," Links said. "Doc Esposito is a business man in addition to being a doctor because he owns his own business in town. Sam, although he is semi-retired, is a business man in construction. I'm a business man, more to the financial side and buying side. That's a pretty good ticket if you want some business people; some wide-ranging business people."

But the 63-year-old Bergenfield native didn't just hop into the business world right away. He took an experience-filled road to get to his current field of work, and to the Madison council.

Links graduated from Bergenfield High School in 1965. He then went to the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico with some of his friends, majoring in physical education at first. However, changing his path he decided to join the United States Air Force, where he served from January of 1967 to December of 1970.

There, he was both stationed in Minot, N.D., while serving as security police, and overseas in Korea, where he served in the same role.

When Links came back, he lived in different parts of New Jersey before coming to Madison with his now-wife Joanne in 1996. They lived in an apartment complex on Ridgedale Avenue, and married in 1998.

Links calls his wife, "the most unbelievably understanding person I've ever met."

"To go through a campaign literally for two years without a break because, although I lost, I had to campaign the year before and I started again in February and went until November," Links said. "Helping get the kids to sporting events – I'd get there, but I'd be coming straight from somewhere else. And it's the homework and getting everything done. My wife pulled a huge load in the last two years."

The couple gave birth to the twins in 2000, and soon were looking for a bigger space to call home. It was at that time that they realized how much they loved Madison.

The family moved to Mount Olive into a house in 2001, only to sell the house and move back after 10 months.

"It just wasn't the same," Links said. "We lived there 10 months. It was a nice house; bigger than we have today. But it wasn't the house, it was Madison itself."

Links calls Madison a great place to raise kids, with a good school system and a fundamentally great recreation program. He also points to the library, where he serves on the Board of Trustees, though he will now have to step down after being elected to council.

The business man who started looking into Madison politics because of his childrens' recreational activities now looks toward those tough budgets he envisions for the next few years. He believes one thing the borough needs to look into is shared services.

"I think that's key," Links said. "I think we're going to have to look at, nine contracts are coming due for unions – it's going to be difficult. I have not been involved, have not seen what has transpired, but yet I can assure you it's going to be difficult. We just increased our water, we just increased the sewer charge to nonprofits and I do think we are going to have to see a charge for electric very quickly."

He says he's the last person who wants to raise anything, but after looking at the numbers it's clear to him that the Madison electric utility will need to raise its rates.

"In business, as in government, you have to look at two things: you have to look at revenue projections and you have to look at cost savings," Links said. "You cannot look at cost savings and not look at revenue. They go hand in hand"

Links also thinks privatization may be a way to help keep the budget down when it comes to developing a large plot of property behind the high school on Ridgedale Avenue that the borough has purchased, often referred to as the 53 acres.

"'How are we going to do it?" Links said. "Is it going to be tax payer money? Well, I say we need to try to do it with private sector money. To me, that 's important. You can't always pass everything on to the tax payer."

Along those lines, Links said that although no one can claim that taxes will never go up, it is of the upmost importance for him and the council to make sure that increases are kept to a minimum.

"I think I would say to people we are going to be extremely fiscally responsible," Links said. "We are going to look to consolidate where possible. No one can lower your taxes. It's financially irresponsible for me to say that. But what I think what we have to do better than we've done before is to contain the tax increases.

"I can't go back and say that I'm going to lower taxes to what they were in 1998 – you can't. You have pensions involved, you have healthcare costs that are continuing to go up, and that's mandated.

"But what I can say is that if we consolidate our services and we look to do what is really necessary and look not to overspend, we can keep the increases down."


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