FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - Democratic Township Committee candidate Scott Berlin admits his campaign is a longshot.

He’s only lived in town for four years, few Democrats have been elected to the governing body in recent decades, and the township is majority Republican.

Still, the 27-year-old software and public relations professional believes offering a new voice and an opposing view could be the ticket.

“That is one of the reasons I am running,” Berlin said. “When you have one-party rule for more than 40 years it leads to commissions getting stacked by the same people.”

But one person who has something to say about it is Republican candidate Maureen Fasano, a lifelong township resident and mother of three who has served on a variety of local volunteer groups and works at her husband’s Freehold Borough insurance company.

Fasano, a Freehold Township High School graduate, said having an all-GOP committee is not a negative if the work gets done.

“Diversity is never a bad thing,” Fasano said during an interview in her office at Eric Fasano Insurance. “But the people who have run the town have done a great job for decades.”

Watch the video at the top of this story to learn more about the referendum Freehold Township voters will face this November.

Neither Fasano nor Berlin has run for or served in elected office before. Both are seeking to fill the seat soon to be vacated by retiring Republican committee member Barbara McMorrow, who is also the current mayor and chose not to run again.

A former special education teacher and current office manager at her husband’s firm, Fasano said, “from an early age that is what I wanted to do. I was involved in volunteering since I was young.”

She began as the first student president of Barkalow Middle School, later becoming student government president at Freehold Township High School. “That is when I first started to volunteer.”

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A 25-year Freehold soccer coach, Fasano also worked with Relay for Life and the Graeme Preston Foundation for Life. She is a former president of the Sunrise Optimist Club. Fasano is a 10-year member of the Freehold Township Parks and Recreation Commission and a part-time Monmouth County fee arbitrator.

Asked to name her three top issues, she said: affordable housing obligations, parks and trees, and communication with the public.

“We have to have it done in a sensible way,” she said about affordable housing. “So we can make it work with senior housing and with the zoning in our community and the effect on our younger residents.”

On communication needs, she said, “We need to make sure the public knows about the issues and being informed about what we offer. You can always be better informed to help people. We have been stable on the tax rate and we can continue the shared services and do more.”

Berlin cited shared services as one of his top issues, noting, “There are only $220,000 out of a $42 million budget that comes from (Freehold Borough) in shared services. These have been there for years. There are a lot more things we can do, we can combine. We need to look at where we can reduce costs.”

But his largest issue is jump-starting the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex, or MOM, train line to improve commuting.

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“It has been delayed longer than I have been alive,” Berlin said. “Central Jersey is only getting more developed. If we don’t take action now, what land is going to be left? I view that as a Freehold Township issue, we are very lacking in public transportation.”

He also said township services need to be modernized: “We just got the ability to pay our water bill online. We need to better communicate with the township — we don’t have an easy-to-use web portal.”

Prior to launching his software and public relations firms, Berlin worked as a legislative aide in the Arizona State Senate and on campaigns in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Arizona. He is a graduate of Northern Arizona University.

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and Monmouth County for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of two books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-643-4277. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp