The West Windsor Township Council will undergo its annual reorganization on Saturday, July 1, at 9 a.m. in Room 1 of Town Hall, and all indications point to Linda Geevers getting the call to be the next Council president. Since 2000, members of the council annually have rotated the position of president.##M:[more]##
In keeping with the recent tradition, Geevers says that nothing has been publicly discussed, but does not rule out the possibility that there will be only one nomination for the chair, and that the name called will be hers. If the council votes her in, she will replace Charles Morgan, who has served for one tumultuous year.
Says Morgan of his time as president, “It was unusually contentious because of the ZIP code debate and the determination of the redevelopment area and the revaluation. Those three things made it somewhat unusual.”
Former Council president and current vice-president Franc Gambatese, who has been publicly critical of Morgan’s work as president, told the WW-P News in early June that Geevers would be the next president .
Geevers was sworn in as a Council member at last year’s re-organization meeting. She was elected after running along with Heidi Kleinman on Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh’s ticket. Prior to running for Council, Geevers was a member of the WW-P school board.
On the school board, Geevers served as board vice president for three years, chaired several school district labor negotiations committees, and was chair of the administration and facilities committee for two years. Geevers holds a degree in communication arts from Cornell University, which she earned in 1981. Geevers, 45, is a 10-year resident of the township and has three daughters attending WW-P schools. She and her husband, Neil, live in the Hunters Run development.
Geevers says that the next council president should possess “leadership skills and experience in policy and organizing meetings.”
Geevers says her experience on the school board has prepared her for whatever tasks may lay ahead. She says the next president should be “someone who will listen to different perspectives on the issues.”
She says there are changes she would like to see in the way the meetings operate. “We need to have more work sessions and more agenda sessions,” says Geevers. “I think we should establish a policy committee so that a few members can put together a guideline for an issue before it will goes to the full council.”
But Morgan predicts that the position may not allow Geevers to make such changes. “She will learn that the president doesn’t really control the agenda each week. The Council agenda is highly reactionary because of all the standard business that comes to us from the administration,” says Morgan.
Morgan is happy to see someone else take over the presidency. “There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that only the chair can do. It’s very time consuming.”
No council member has yet publicly speculated on a choice for vice president. “Neither I nor Mr. Gambatese should be either president or vice president in a year when we’re both up for reelection,” says Morgan.
Barbara Pfeifer, the newest council member, says she has no time for taking on more responsibilities. That leaves Kleinman as the favorite for vice president.
