Councilman Charles Morgan called into question the process by which West Windsor Township is selecting the planner for its impending redevelopment. On Monday, September 18, Morgan wondered whether the planner has already been selected despite the township’s administration that it is using the most open, public process possible to decide who gets the job.
Morgan took issue with a press release sent by members of the search committee. He said he interpreted the release to state that the group would be taking a larger role in the decision than had been intended when the sub-committee was formed. The RFQ, written in May, outlined the intended decision-making process. It stated that the search committee would narrow down the proposals to between three and five firms that would give public presentations.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh says he will make a recommendation to council. The final decision will be made by a council vote on the mayor’s recommendation. Morgan said he thought the agreement on this process was contradicted by the press release issued by Council President Linda Geevers and Marvin Gardner, Chairman of the Planning Board, dated September 13. In the release, Gardner, who is also a member of the Search Committee, stated, “The Search Committee will carefully evaluate the responses to these questions before arriving at a decision.”
Gardner told the News, “That did not mean a decision of the search committee in selecting a finalist. We will recommend one of the finalists to the town council, then the council along with the mayor will make the decision.”
He said: “I can only tell you I have made no decision with respect to my preference among the three finalists. I’m eager to hear the questions that will be raised by the public and the responses to those questions by the firms.”
Morgan said, “If the one firm that I think will be selected is selected, there is going to be a lot of argumentation about whether or not is was the right choice. If people are already complaining that it was a done deal from the start, it’s criminal not to take every step to satisfy the public that those suspicions are not well placed.”
Morgan started the previous statement at the council meeting, but stopped when Geevers interjected, “I don’t know where these rumors get started. I want to make it clear to the public that no decision has been made and that this is an open process.”
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, who did not attend the meeting, said “I don’t think anyone has decided anything. Ask all of the search committee members. Nobody feels we’ve made a decision, and that is absurd to say in front of the public, particularly from an elected official.”
Township Attorney Michael J. Herbert added that it was irresponsible to “make a comment that the decision has been predetermined. I’ve been working on this for two and a half years and you’re the first one I’ve heard say that.”
Morgan introduced a motion for the council to “re-affirm its intent in the RFQ,” a motion which would prevent the search committee from meeting behind closed doors to deliberate on its recommendation to the mayor. There was no second to the motion, so it was not put to vote.
Franc Gambatese, who stated that he was considering seconding the motion, (“I’m trying to think of a reason not to”) agreed that the council should not change what was intended by the RFQ. He stressed the importance of that document and the care the township took to word it correctly. He said also, “Maybe we didn’t do this right the first time. The search committee knows better than anything you’re going to learn in the next week.”
Gambatese was originally a member of the search committee, along with fellow council member Heidi Kleinman. He had to leave the committee due to the amount of time that had to be spent on reviewing the proposals, and was replaced with Geevers, who was Kleinman’s running mate in last year’s council election.
The council agreed to have a joint meeting with the search committee after the three public presentations. The meeting will be held at Town Hall on Thursday, September 28 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be an executive session and due to recent council action, the meeting will not be recorded.
Morgan says he finds no satisfaction in the council’s decision to schedule the meeting. “It wasn’t clear to me what we decided,” said Morgan. “[A member of the public] was asking the right questions as far as what we decided, there were a bunch of blank looks in response.”
“I’m not satisfied. Executive sessions are inappropriate,” said Morgan, “It’s not going to be a public process and it should be. There’s no excuse for it not to be.”
Morgan believes the administration in the past has presented the public with a supposedly open selection process while making decisions privately. “I’m fairly confident we’re seeing a repeat of the process that filled the vacancy on council. There was no deliberation after the speeches were made,” said Morgan, referring to the controversial process that led to Barbara Pfeifer’s selection to council in May. “They’re having these executive sessions, you know darn well these decisions will be made.”
Morgan said also that he believes the decision to put a time limit on the public presentation meetings indicates a lack of interest in conducting the most thorough process possible. “Ending the meeting by quarter to ten suggests we’re more interested ingoing home early than getting it done right. If this has to go to 2 a.m., it should. There are little things here and there shouting at me that this is a done deal.”
The first planner’s presentation was held Wednesday, September 20. It ended shortly after 10 p.m. Gardner, who ran the question and answer portion of the meeting, made certain there were no more questions before it was adjourned.
Morgan says he loos forward to finding out all he needs to make his decision on which firm to support. “I’m looking for a demonstration of a commitment to the public process, a demonstration of creativity, a track record of having done exciting things, their ability to manage the project. Can they manage it through all the warring parties? There will be warring parties, and they’ll have to pull everyone together.”
Morgan says he will try to catch the public presenters for the three firms off-guard during the question and answer session. “I intend to be asking tough questions that will be different for each of the three firms that will be intended to surprise them.”
Among other things, Morgan asked the Street-Works team members at their presentation whether they would have a problem with the council and the search committee deliberating publicly over which company would be chosen. The firm’s founder Richard Heapes shook his head to indicate he would not have a problem with open deliberations.
