Jarrett Quick, Candidate for Montgomery Township Committee 2022

Republican Party

Career:

Contract administrator for the State of New Jersey (Department of Children and Families) since 2012. Also, a referee for adult men’s recreational ice hockey.

Education:

Earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from New England College.

Family/Personal:

Jarrett Quick, 39, lived in Hillsborough most of his life. He moved to Montgomery in 2019. His wife Tara is a hair stylist at Renaissance Salon & Spa in Hillsborough. They have two children: Dax, 4, and Savannah, 5.

Quick was a write-in candidate for the Republican Party in this Township Committee race.

Why running as a Republican?

He says he became involved with the Republican principles through his family’s involvement in politics, and their history as Republicans.

“I sort of just grew up that way,” he says. “It’s entrenched in my personality.”

His grandfather, J. Preston Quick, was a long-time member of the Hillsborough Township Committee. His mother, Kathryn Quick, was on Manville Council for a number of years. She also worked in Somerset County government for 30 years, and served as deputy clerk for the Somerset County Freeholder Board. Jarret served on the Somerset County Republican Committee for Hillsborough for two years.

“I do have a lot of views that align with party values,” he says.

Top three issues:

1. Taxes:

“Nobody’s trying to lower taxes. Just because a tax cap is there, you don’t have to hit it. I’m talking about property taxes. Nobody seems to be doing much about it.”

“One of the big things I see ... as I’ve been knocking on people’s doors, is taxes. People have an

issue with taxes. So many people say, taxes are terrible, school is great. Once my kids graduate, I’m out.”

“I don’t want that to be the case. You don’t want to see community members leave just because their kids graduate school.”

2. Open Space:

“I see the overdevelopment, with all the apartment buildings and strip malls, in Hillsborough. I don’t want to see Montgomery become like that,” he said.

“We saw what was happening in Hillsborough and we were able to get out. We moved to Montgomery. It is a great opportunity for our kids because of the schools.”

3. Infrastructure:

Since Quick moved to Montgomery, he has not had any Internet. “I was lucky enough to be able to get cellular Internet, but, we tried to get Comcast when we moved into our house. They wanted $15,000 to run infrastructure from [Route] 601 to the end of my driveway, just so I could have Internet.”

“Internet is critical for so many things: education, working from home, and just life. Everybody is streaming, when they don’t have Internet. It’s just unfortunate. It’s such a barrier for people who live in such a prosperous community.”

What would you do about these issues?

“In terms of Internet, there are laws in place, Cable companies are only required to provide service to houses that have so many linear feet between them,” he said. “That is not really fair to everybody. We have to look into changing that, and holding these companies accountable.”

“If shouldn’t cost $15,000 to run cable to my house. It costs probably $200. But, because of labor unions and things like that, they are required to charge a minimal amount. It’s ridiculous. Montgomery should have “affordable Internet, and access to Internet in general.”

Regarding Open Space, Quick said he was concerned Montgomery has not saved much open space in the last four years. “It looked like the history of open space preservation, before that last four years, had been at a more rampant pace. So, there should be some opportunity to work on that a bit more.”

Regarding taxes, he said he would eliminate wasteful spending. “There’s got to be some,” he added. “Eliminate wasteful spending where you can find it.”

Why are you running for office?

"I don’t see a lot of checks and balances in the current administration, which is five Democrats. They can essentially do what they want. People along the same party lines have a tendency to just vote the same way, because that’s what the party says. I don’t think that’s right." ■