Returning Little Silver Councilman Galante: "I'm Invested in This Town"

It was not Donald Galante's intention to resign from his Little Silver council seat in August of 2008, but with a global financial crisis on his hands at work, he had to go.

"There was a lot going on in the marketplace and I was being called on in a lot of different roles, including on an international front," said Galante, a 30 year finance vet who at the time was Head of North America Fixed Income and Chief Investment Officer for MF Global, a brokerage firm based in Manhattan. 

"Being on council was great but unfortunately with the crisis going on, it came to a head for me and I was really not able to offer up to the community the time I needed to do it. With everything that was going on, it was literally like work around the clock."

Things calmed down for Galante in 2010, as he traded in a life of travel for the comforts of home and established Gala Capital Management on White Road in Little Silver. Not long after, he began seeking a return to council.

"Actually a year ago, I voiced to some of the councilmen that I had an interest in coming back on if an opportunity existed. I wasn't into necessarily running for the position, but if an opportunity came about [I'd be interested], and it did."

When , Galante reached out to Neff and Republican county committee chair Rick DeNoia to let them know he'd like to be considered to fill the vacancy. . He was  by Mayor Neff at last Thursday.

"He was the perfect choice," said Neff after the ceremony. "He's done it before, so he hits the ground running. I discovered when I came on council there's a huge learning curve. You look at it from the audience and it looks sort of basic and how tough can that be... It's difficult, there's so many regulations and statutes and what you can do and what you can't do and getting six people to agree to anything is difficult, so there's a learning curve."

A Little Silver resident for over 25 years, Galante is no stranger around town, either. 

"He knows the people, he knows the issues, he's been in town for a long time. He and his wife () have both been community-minded forever."

Galante will take on Neff's council responsibilities, chairing the personnel committee, and acting as a liason to Shade Tree and environmental commission through the end of 2011.

"That is enough to keep him very busy," said Neff, noting Galante has chaired the personnel committee before. "He knows what it entails and I think it will work out great."

Neff says the council will reorganize at the beginning of 2012, at which point Galante may take on different roles which better utilize his financial expertise.

"We're going to look at strategies hopefully that we can keep taxes under control and even potentially lower them," said Galante. "It's always good to look at the balance sheet of the borough and see if there are assets that can be monetized or if there's a better way to control liabilities."

One avenue for lowering taxes Galante sees is better coordination with high schools and middle schools to help alleviate debt burdens to communities.

"The taxpayer basically pays one bill, they don't know that some goes to the county, some goes to the borough, some goes to the high school and some goes to the local schools. Sometimes working independently, it costs more than if you work together on some aspects of that."

Galante credited the borough for a job well done in navigating through the thick of the financial crisis, but says it should now focus on the current situation and making decisions which can have positive impacts in the years ahead.

"Interest rates are at historic lows. When you look at boroughs that have the credit qualities that we have, what should we do with that with regard to a little bit of forward thinking and vision when it comes to reducing the cost to taxpayers? It's a great opportunity. You've just got to do a little homework and understand it. It's sort of a complicated world, but having been in it for 30 years, I think I can definitely bring some value."

Regarding cost-saving shared services ideas such as , Galante said he thinks towns should explore all possibilities. He feels towns should not try to implement them overnight or seek out a quick fix, but rather carefully examine all the options and lay out plans that will succeed in the long-term.

"I think you look at everything and you look at what's been successful outside the state as well. I grew up out on Long Island in Nassau County. We had a county police force there that worked. It didn't mean that you didn't have local jurisdiction, you had local police officers that handled it, but from the standpoint of the administrative management, it was handled by one central location. It's not necessarily going to work here, but first you review all the concepts and you look at those things."

"If you start now with a 15 year vision, before you know it, it's 15 years down the road and you've accomplished what you want to."

Galante says he would like to continue exploring such ideas in the public sphere.

"One thing I would love to do is keep it transparent so the community knows what we're doing and how we're doing it," Galante said.

"I'm invested in this town. I've always enjoyed giving back to the community and it's a great time to do that, to work with Mayor Neff and the rest of the council. I'm excited."