Two long-time civil servants and community activists have announced their candidacy in the June 7 primary election for two Roselle Borough Council seats, one at-large and another that will represent the Fourth Ward.
Brandis A. Puryear, a detective sergeant in the Irvington Police Department with 17 years of law enforcement experience, has filed petitions to run for the Democratic nomination for an at-large position on the Roselle Borough Council.
Travis Amaker, whose 15 years in government service includes training security personnel for the Hudson County Sheriff’s Department, will be seeking the Democratic nomination for Roselle Borough Council in the Fourth Ward.
Born and raised in Roselle and a graduate of Abraham Clark High School, Puryear has served in the executive protection unit, as a school resource officer in the juvenile section, and as a patrol officer.
She also earned a Masters of Public Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Sociology, from Rutgers University, and she plans to apply her experience to make Roselle more affordable and more attractive for families, businesses and service providers.
“Roselle is a beautiful borough with great neighborhoods and hard-working families that deserve the best,” said Puryear. “That’s why I’m running for this office, to provide service at a very high level, because I care.”
“I’m looking forward to having conversations with voters of the Democratic Party,” said Puryear, who indicated that she intends to wage a grassroots campaign building on her record as a dedicated community activist. “With purposeful action, I will work strategically to uncover, and to discover, a common vision to move us forward.”
As someone who has been holding jobs since he was a teenager, Amaker said he was employed at On-time Transportation as a mechanic assistant and as an assistant manager at Roselle Lanes while growing up in Roselle but still found time to play basketball with Roselle Recreation.
He later joined the Jersey City Public Works Department, working his way up from disposal detail to lead carpenter/mason, later refurbishing and reconstructing city buildings including police stations, fire departments, and city hall.
Amaker was also employed at the Jersey City Board of Education as a security officer, where he encountered threats of the caliber one might expect in the second-largest and most diverse urban school district in the state.
Currently, Amaker is president of the 4th Ward Civic Association and the owner of Zimps Entertainment, a food catering business that provides sumptuous delights for all tastes and preferences that was started by his grandfather.
His grandfather, James “Zimp” Smith, was one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fliers who fought in World War II and paved the way for the integration of the U.S. military in 1948.
Amaker’s father is former Roselle Mayor Garrett Smith, the first African-American chief executive of this Union County town of 20,000 residents.
Smith served two terms in Roselle that exposed the vast weakness in Union County’s Democratic political establishment.
“I’m running for council to bring fresh, new ideas to address high property taxes, the condition, and cleanliness of our streets, and to preserve Roselle’s character,” said Amaker. “If we want opportunity coming to Roselle, we need to prepare our roads and infrastructure for the coming traffic but the tax burden is so unnecessarily high eventually forces middle-class people to leave in the name of progress.”
In the photo above, Brandis Puryear stands with Travis Amaker
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