Shrewsbury Borough Council Election 2024: Donald Sena

SHREWSBURY, NJ — Shrewsbury’s general election on Nov. 5 has four candidates running for two open seats on the Shrewsbury Borough Council.

Candidate Donald Sena is running for one of two open seats with David Landy. Opposing candidates include Donald Eddy and Daniel Levy.

Are you running for Borough Council in Shrewsbury? Contact Sara Winick at sara.winick@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate’s profile and submitting campaign announcements to Shrewsbury Patch.

Donald Sena

Age: 56
Town of residence: Shrewsbury
Education: BS, Journalism, Syracuse University
Occupation: Small Business Owner, Sena Content Consulting

What drove you to seek public office?
I believe that volunteers are vital to any town and my time volunteering in a few capacities has helped me understand the families and issues affecting our great town.

I spent over a decade coaching various sports in town, I was a volunteer with Cub Scouts, and for the last four years, I was the President of the Junior Bucs Youth Wrestling Program, which serves families in the high school sending districts of Shrewsbury, Red Bank and Little Silver.

Also, my experience in content and technical companies, such as Microsoft, has given me the great opportunity to be a leader, create P&Ls and major budgets, and get the most out of every precious dollar.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?
One major challenge is that the Borough of Shrewsbury has had 100% Republicans on the council and as mayor for decades. This town needs diversification of views and fresh perspectives on all matters. For the last decade or so, there’s been a ton of “groupthink” on all issues with differing and valuable perspectives never getting serious consideration. We need fresh perspectives and new ideas.

What do you see as the biggest issue facing Shrewsbury, and how will you resolve it?
Some of the pressing issues where I would like to see the Council get involved are with communicating with our neighboring towns about the Fort redevelopment and its environmental impact on the area.

Local outreach to express concerns over the traffic and environmental issues are something I would like to see addressed. Netflix's development isn’t in Shrewsbury, but the effect of its development has a huge effect on our quality of life.

Historically, there’s a fish die-off issue in Parkers Creek — do the developers know about this? Are they planning on doing something about it?

The lighting along the promenade is very bright and the homes and wildlife on the other side of the creek in Shrewsbury are being affected by it, how can we work together with other municipal governments to address these issues?

There’s an abandoned Jiffy Lube on the corner of Broad St. and White Road — I propose we work with State, County and local officials to possibly see if there is a way to use that land to add a right turn lane to Broad to alleviate the traffic build up into Red Bank from the train and lights. Traffic will only get worse throughout Shrewsbury as the Fort is developed.

What are past accomplishments or experiences that make you qualified for this position?
I have been an executive in the content and technical space for a few decades; I worked at Microsoft Corporation for over 20 years in a variety of capacities. I currently run my own successful consulting and publishing small business. I also ran a multi-town sports program where I worked across towns to find unity and build a solid working community of parents and students across the area.

Name one thing about Shrewsbury that always makes you smile.
I love the people of this town first and foremost – there is so much caring and concern for our neighbors and not all towns experience that.

Also, I love the K-8 school and believe we should do everything in our power to preserve the Shrewsbury Borough School. Both of my kids graduated from SBS and I want to ensure the school thrives in the future, even if I don’t have kids that attend now.