the staff of the Ridgewod blog
Oakland NJ, Kerri Sirinides and Carol-Ann Rose are running on the Republican ticket together for town council in Oakland, NJ. They are running again incumbent, Kevin Slasinski and former Congressional candidate, John McCann, whom at the last minute, decided to throw his name into the town council mix.
Kerri Sirinides was born and raised in Northern New Jersey and has been an Oakland resident for 12 years. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from William Paterson University along with a New Jersey Teachers Certification. She recently went back to school to obtain her Paralegal Certification from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Kerri and her husband, Albert, are the proud parents of 3 boys, Noah (16), Joel (14) and Kristian (11), a dog and 2 birds.
Kerri has a background in healthcare and currently works as a Regional Director of Managed Care. She is actively involved in her church and has volunteered in a variety of ways throughout the years, including teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. She is also a member of the Mother’s Club of Oakland which was founded to benefit the youth of Oakland by supporting recreational and community programs. Kerri has also served as a den co-leader for the local Cub Scouts.
Kerri is an active member of Oakland’s Access for All Committee. This is a newly formed Committee dedicated to helping to enhance quality of life for individuals with disabilities, whether seen or unseen, so that they can participate, to the fullest extent possible, in everyday activities within the Community.
Carol-Ann Rose is a lifelong resident of Oakland. Carol-Ann has worked with the firm of Norgaard, O’Boyle and Hannon (Gary K. Norgaard) for 30 years as a Senior Paralegal. Carol-Ann is also an Administrator for the New Jersey Bankruptcy Lawyers Foundation. This Foundation was created by her boss, Gary K. Norgaard and several other members of the Bankruptcy Bar, to assist low-income individuals with their rent, utilities and other financial needs. She works very closely with Legal Services throughout New Jersey and is being recognized by Legal Services for her 18 years of service.
Carol-Ann is also the Secretary for the Garden State Region Mustang Club, is the former President of the Restored Rusty Relics and a member of the Obsessions Car Club. She and her late-husband Joe spent a lot of their time showing off their antique cars at various car shows. Additionally, Carol-Ann is very active in animal rescue handling Fundraising events for Angels for Animal Network as well as fostering puppies for various rescue organization in New Jersey, RBARI being one of them. Carol-Ann also volunteered her time doing pet therapy visits at a group home with previous dogs.
Carol-Ann, along with other members of the community, have successfully taken over the board of Ramapo Mountain Lakes. She is very passionate about doing the right thing for all the shareholders both living on the Lake and those who are not Lakefront shareholders.
Both women are new to politics but not new to the issues that have plagued Oakland for years. “Both Carol-Ann and I are passionate about keeping Oakland an affordable, family-oriented town for everyone to live in. Our current town council consists of all men (republican) with a female democrat mayor. This current set up is just not working! The constituents feel like their complaints are falling on deaf ears. Our campaign is simple…we want to listen to our constituents and what concerns they have. There needs to be action on issues such as the revitalization of the downtown; the legitimate concerns of the RML (Ramapo Mountain Lakes) and those negatively affected by the sewer issues that have plagued our town.”