When Hopewell Borough voters cast their ballots in the Nov. 3 general election, they will choose among three candidates for two open seats on the Hopewell Borough Council.
The race is for two three-year terms.
Incumbent Democrat Sheri Hook, independent candidate James Higgins, who is running under the Putting Hopewell First banner, and Democrat Justine Levine are on the ballot.
The Hopewell Express sent questions to all three candidates. Their biographies and responses are below.
James Higgins has been a New Jersey resident since 1972 and has called Hopewell Borough home for more than 12 years.
“The youngest of eight and a Seton Hall graduate, I am the proud father of two wonderful children, including a Hopewell Valley Central High School graduate. Professionally, I have held executive leadership roles with AT&T, T-Mobile, Oakwood Worldwide, and BridgeStreet, and today lead my own boutique consulting firm helping small businesses achieve excellence,” he said.
“I am deeply passionate about Hopewell, its people, character, and future. This is my home, my community, and where I intend to spend the rest of my life.”
Sheri Hook said the first time she drove down Broad Street, she knew she would one day live in Hopewell Borough.
“12 years later, I’m here with my husband and two sons and can’t imagine leaving. I am a Chicago native who arrived in NJ via Michigan, Colorado, and New York, and traded my days as a pharmaceutical sales trainer for those of a community volunteer: formerly Harvest Fair and PTO, and now co-chairing the Hopewell Boro Block Party and the Hopewell Garden Club,” Hook said.
“I love bringing people together and building community, and serving on Hopewell Borough Council is a natural extension of that commitment.”
Justine Levine is a 10-year resident of Hopewell, where she and her husband raised two children.
“I’ve worked in higher education for 25 years, and am currently a residential college dean at Princeton, where I craft and enforce policy, steward a budget, and am responsible for 800 students, managing crises, degree progress, and aging buildings,” she said.
“Before moving to Hopewell, I served on the Flemington Board of Education and the board of SAFE in Hunterdon. More recently, I coordinated volunteers for the HVCHS marching band; I now volunteer with the Hopewell Valley Food Pantry, Hopewell Borough Green Team, and Chubby’s Project.”
Why are you running?
Higgins: For the past three years, I have attended nearly every Borough Council meeting. The more engaged I became, the more questions I would ask about how and why decisions were being made. I became concerned that the council wasn’t listening to the people who call Hopewell home.
Hopewell 57 and the PILOT agreement brought many of those questions into focus for me. I support responsible redevelopment, affordable housing, welcoming new families, and a vibrant downtown. But decisions of this magnitude require thoughtful discussion, appropriate due diligence, and meaningful community input. I repeatedly advocated to slow down and for town halls because I believe residents deserve an opportunity to be heard before consequential decisions are made. Recently, many people have felt unheard, and this division could have been avoided by better council leadership.
I am running because I want to represent all of Hopewell. I want residents to have a meaningful voice in how our community develops today and for generations to come. Good government sometimes means slowing down, listening, asking more questions, and considering the long-term consequences before acting.
Serving the community I love and ensuring every resident has a meaningful voice in its future is why I decided to run.
Hook: I am seeking re-election because I genuinely care about Hopewell Borough and want to contribute meaningfully to our community. My goal is to protect what makes our town unique while doing what is necessary to prepare responsibly for the future. Serving on Council for the past three years has deepened my understanding of how municipal government works and what it takes to get things accomplished.
It also involved resolving unusually consequential issues, such as selling the water system and redeveloping Hopewell 57. As a result, our town is in a stronger financial position, with safer water and a meaningful path toward meeting our affordable housing obligations.
I’d like to keep working to ensure taxpayer funds are managed responsibly and to protect residents’ health and safety. I’ve also started projects I want to continue, like improving communication with residents and businesses, and ideas I want to get off the ground, like community composting.
I believe that the experience I’ve gained, the lessons I’ve learned, and the relationships I’ve developed will be valuable in achieving these goals.
Levine: I ran as a write-in candidate last year because I believe that we should ALWAYS have a choice. I’m running this year on the ballot because I have a deep love for Hopewell Borough and there are so many big issues facing us as a community right now; I’d like to help foster conversation about these issues, so we all have a say in the changes that will come to pass over the next five to 10 years.
Miscommunication and lack of information seem to be a persistent problem, and while I know that there are often things that elected officials can’t share with the public, everyone should understand the process of decision-making so that they can participate meaningfully, not after the fact when it’s too late to make a difference.
Though the conversations about Hopewell 57 have been ongoing for years, many people felt disenfranchised by the outcome once the project got to the Planning Board, and I would like to help us avoid situations like this in the future. There are still outstanding questions about development and affordable housing, and I’d like to help the community be active in addressing them together.
What separates you from the other candidates in the race for Borough Council?
Higgins: Rather than focus on what separates me from the other candidates, I would rather focus on what I believe and how I would serve Hopewell. How I would approach the responsibility of serving on Council.
I don’t believe the role of a council member is simply to cast votes or consistently approve legislation and ordinances. There is real responsibility behind every vote. Council members should ask questions, challenge assumptions, understand the consequences, and be accountable for their decisions.
The proposed sale of our water system is perhaps the clearest example. Council was prepared to approve the sale without putting the decision directly before residents. I believed a decision involving one of Hopewell’s most important public assets belonged to the community. So, I, along with a committed group of residents, organized and petitioned to put the issue on the ballot. We ensured Hopewell residents had the opportunity to vote. On an issue of this magnitude, Council should actively engage residents and encourage public debate. They did not, so we made sure that happened.
I will always ask three fundamental questions: Is the community fully aware? Did residents have a meaningful opportunity to provide their insight? And are we acting in the best long-term interest of Hopewell?
Hook: I bring three years of hands-on experience on Borough Council. During my first term, I have devoted significant time to developing a working knowledge of municipal finances and operations, establishing productive relationships with our professionals, businesses, and community stakeholders, and understanding the practical realities of implementing decisions.
Being a council member takes a lot of work, and it takes time to understand the job’s nuances. I have learned that “serving the community” goes beyond simply listening to residents’ concerns. It means considering those concerns alongside what is financially possible and responsible, what is legally allowable, and what is practical both for the short and long term.
The water sale is a concrete example of this. I ultimately supported the sale after extensive consideration and public debate, and provided transparency into all of Council’s analyses. Fifty-eight percent of voters approved the sale. That being said, the 42% who opposed the sale had legitimate concerns, and disagreement doesn’t end my responsibility to listen.
But I am confident that, because we balanced fiscal realities, operational needs, environmental concerns, and community feedback, we put Hopewell on a solid path forward. I bring my experience making difficult decisions and being accountable for them to a second term.
Levine: I’m an educator and a community builder, and a lifelong public servant, having served on the Board of Education in Flemington, on the Board of Trustees for SAFE in Hunterdon, and in lots of volunteer capacities (including volunteer coordinator for the Hopewell Valley Marching Black and Gold, shift leader at the Hopewell Valley Mobile Food Pantry, and helping out with the Green Team, Food Truck Fridays, and at Chubby’s Project).
As a dean of a residential college, though, I’m responsible for everything for my residents, from health and well-being to academic progress to the condition of our buildings (which, by the way, are over 100 years old and susceptible to all kinds of decay and flooding!).
In many ways, it’s like helping to facilitate life in a small town, making sure residents can talk with each other and that policy works for everyone. I’m someone who likes to make connections and find synergies between people who have shared goals, where they can pool resources for better outcomes. I’d like to think I’m a good listener, though I’m sure that’s true of my opponents, too.
What do you see as the top issue facing Hopewell Borough, and how would you want to address that issue as a member of Council?
Higgins: Hopewell is a wonderful community and a very special town. It is our responsibility to care for it thoughtfully, mindful of what Hopewell is today and how the decisions we make will shape its future.
Since 2007, Hopewell has updated three master plans identifying many of the same priorities: downtown vitality, parking and road safety, responsible development, environmental stewardship, infrastructure, and preserving our historic character. Yet many of these challenges remain unresolved. I want to help turn those plans into action.
I want to strengthen our downtown, support local businesses, address parking and road safety, address affordable housing thoughtfully and responsibly, and preserve Hopewell’s character.
We also have important redevelopment ahead, including the former Castoro’s property on East Broad Street and the Van Doren Lumberyard on Model Avenue. I am unwilling to see another development process divide our community as Hopewell 57 did. These projects should move forward collaboratively, with residents engaged early and meaningfully.
Serving on Council is not pageantry or an honorary role. It is an unpaid public office with real responsibilities and real consequences. I will approach it with preparation, accountability, and a commitment to turning plans into progress.
Hook: I think the next challenge we have is an exciting one: allocating newly available funds freed up by the water system sale. The borough used the purchase price funds to pay off all water system debt and nearly all general fund debt.
Debt service savings per year are estimated at $986,000, which can be used for capital projects or town improvements. This requires disciplined financial planning and clear priorities. There is much to consider, including addressing infrastructure needs, maintaining proper reserves, avoiding unnecessary future borrowing, and whether some benefit could take the form of lower municipal taxes.
I would approach these decisions with diligence, consulting with our professionals and conducting transparent conversations with Council and the public. One idea I would like to explore further is utilizing a participatory budgeting process for a portion of those funds.
Residents should have a meaningful voice in these choices, and I would expand on the early public input we have already gathered on this topic. There’s a lot to look forward to in Hopewell Borough, and I hope to continue doing my part to care for our community’s future.
Levine: I think the most pressing issue facing Hopewell Borough is thoughtful and sustainable development. We have to respond — in the creation of policy and in our long-term planning — to things over which we have no control: legal requirements, economic forces, changing demographics, climate change.
All of these issues affect the way we decide to develop and preserve space. I don’t think any one individual or representative body can “solve” an issue like that, which is going to be facing us for the foreseeable future; we will have to continue to work on it together, both as a council and as a community. What the Council CAN do is put in place better mechanisms for ongoing communication, participation and feedback.
I’d like to explore the possibility of creating an environmental commission, which could help us make some of these decisions with the expertise of citizens who work in these areas, so that we can better connect policy with stewardship.
