Millburn Candidate Profile For 2025 Town Committee Election: Kris Heinrichs

MILLBURN, NJ — The Millburn Town Committee race is hitting the home stretch, with four candidates competing for two open seats in 2025.

Incumbents Annette Romano and Michael Cohen, both Democrats, face a challenge from Republican candidates Jamie Serruto and Kris Heinrichs.

Patch reached out to each candidate with the same set of questions. Kris Heinrichs’ replies follow below. Learn more about his campaign here, and see his social media campaign page here.

Learn more about voting in Millburn’s upcoming election here.

>> Are you a candidate seeking an elected office in Essex County? Send campaign updates to eric.kiefer@patch.com

PATCH: What background or professional experience qualifies you for the job?

KRIS HEINRICHS: As a 15-year resident of Millburn-Short Hills with my wife and three daughters, I've been deeply involved in our community through various leadership roles.

Professional Experience: I've served as Chief Financial Officer and senior financial executive for 20 years at global digital advertising and technology companies. I've led various functions including finance, accounting, treasury, tax, real estate and human resources, with deep experience in budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, risk management, internal controls and personnel development.

Educational Leadership: I'm currently serving on the Millburn Board of Education through January 2026 and was unanimously elected President for this year. I've helped usher in significant positive changes to the district, primarily at the High School. I previously held leadership roles in Elementary and Middle School PTO organizations.

Military and Community Service: I served as an officer in the United States Army and on the Board of a non-profit that promoted sexual assault prevention on college campuses. I hold a B.S./B.A. in Accounting from the University of Richmond and am a Certified Public Accountant.

This combination of financial expertise, educational leadership, and military service has prepared me to tackle the complex budgetary and governance challenges facing our township.

PATCH: What is your campaign platform? What are your priorities if elected?

KRIS HEINRICHS: Our campaign platform includes:

Stop the Dump and Stop More Reckless Overdevelopment – We need to manage the reckless overdevelopment that was rubber-stamped through the 2021 Fair Share Housing agreement, complying with Trenton's overdevelopment agenda without fighting for our residents. Moving forward, we will put guardrails in place to prevent any future sweetheart deals related to our municipal, taxpayer-owned properties. We will also continue the fight to prevent the 75-unit, income-segregated high-density housing development from being built on the toxic DPW Recycling site next to the middle school.

Actively Manage Crime Prevention – The Vote for Millburn team of Frank Saccomandi and Ben Stoller pushed hard to ensure that our Police Department took more proactive steps to prevent vehicle theft and home burglaries. This has resulted in a 60% reduction in vehicle theft and 40% reduction in home burglaries. We intend to go further and allocate more resources to crime prevention, such as hiring more police as needed and adding technology that will give our police officers the information they need to catch potential crimes before they occur.

Pedestrian Safety – We will integrate pedestrian and traffic safety into a comprehensive public safety strategy. There are several very dangerous pedestrian crossings that require major changes such as adding lights, moving sidewalk access and providing crossing guards. Examples that we will target include: Glen Avenue and Lackawanna near the Library, the 85 Woodland project being built, and the entirety of Old Short Hills Road. Construction should not create traffic and pedestrian hazards as, for example, the 85 Woodland project has.

Develop a Long-Term Strategic Plan – We will put in place a long-term strategic plan for how our town should evolve. We will design processes to ensure current and future township committees adhere to the long-term goals for our town, set by elected officials alongside our community members. Our town has lurched from project to project, with no vision, no priorities and little respect for our taxpayers. Pet projects come out of the blue and are given priority over things like building a long-overdue Firehouse. We hear a lot about flood mitigation but the problems have not been solved for the long term. We received a recent grant of $500K to refurbish a pump station that still has useful life remaining, yet Millburn taxpayers send $50 million a year to the county for very little in return. We have given away taxpayer money for a construction project for an entity that we don't own or manage. Special interests have taken priority over the residents.

Support the Commission Referendum – We support the Charter Study Referendum that is on the ballot, which will examine our form of government—the first step toward non-partisan elections. Local issues have nothing to do with national ones, and we would like to see our Township Committee free from partisan distractions, and totally focused on you, the Millburn residents, property owners and businesses.

We were inspired to run for Township Committee after seeing the positive changes implemented by Frank Saccomandi and Ben Stoller as part of the Vote for Millburn platform. Their leadership brought renewed focus to public safety, responsible development and community-driven governance, reinforcing the importance of fresh perspectives in township leadership.

But the job is not done. We're not out of the woods yet—not by a long shot. Continued progress requires more change and more new leadership.

We have a deep love of this community, we welcome all residents, property owners and businesses, old and new, into the process of governing our town. Millburn Short Hills has a very bright future and we encourage your active participation in shaping it.

We hope to earn your vote on or before Election Day, Tuesday, November 4th. You will find us on Line A on the ballot and we would be honored to serve you on the Millburn Township Committee.

PATCH: What is one thing that always makes you smile when you think about Millburn?

KRIS HEINRICHS: What makes me smile are memories of our kids in elementary school, particularly events like the Strawberry Festival. Our elementary schools have such a strong, supportive community that we must maintain. My daughters often refer back to teachers they had, lessons that they learned and maintain friendships that were forged in the early days of school.