Najib Iftikhar, challenger for Stanhope council

I am a resident of Stanhope and served on the board of education for six years. My professional experience includes college professor and in the past director of sales and marketing in the hospitality industry.

I’m a firm believer in building relationships, and that’s how you get to know people/ community. I can say that I have always been successful by doing so and help others by listening.

As an elected official I’m not going to have a set agenda, I want to work and listen to the community and see what I can do to help our residents. There are always concerns. We need to be open-minded and work together to help others and achieve our objectives.

When I served on the board of education, i always put our residents first and was quite vocal about increasing taxes. There are ways to keep the cost down without increasing taxes. I don’t believe that taxes should be the first thing to come to our mind to resolve issues.

I am also a believer that we all can work together whether we are a Democrat or Republican. Our goal is to work for our residents/community.

I was appointed by our town mayor to the Land Use Committee, for which I am very grateful as it gives me the opportunity to serve. I want to help in any way I can for better future of our community.

I thank every member of our council for their service. I also believe in change. That’s why I did not want to occupy the seat as board of education member and let others bring fresh ideas.

I thank you for your time and your support and look forward for an opportunity.