They say it’s a thankless job, serving as a local elected official. Long hours, low pay, little recognition, and lots of complaints. But at least 10 West Windsor residents are willing to put up with the negatives associated with the job.
Seeking to be appointed to a seat on the township council are William Anklowitz of 21 Windsor Pond Road, William Aprea of 354 North Post Road, Fatima Aziz of 20 Hathaway Drive, Carol Michaelson Brugger of 11 Stuart Lane East, Dan Fabrizio of 8 Exeter Court, Thomas Fortin of 28 Renfield Drive, Barbara Pfeifer of 3 Beardsly Court, Nitin Shah of 57 Zaitz Farm Road, Robert Suto of 34 Ketley Place, and John Wydra of 26 Benford Drive.
The candidates submitted their names to West Windsor Township Clerk Sharon Young by the May 5 deadline in order to be considered to fill the seat recently vacated by Councilwoman Kristin Appelget.
Appelget resigned from council effective May 9 after taking a job as Princeton University’s director of community and regional affairs. She said that working for the university, which has significant land holdings in West Windsor, would be a conflict of interest.
Council has until Wednseday, June 7, to select a replacement from the pool of candidates. The person selected will serve until November, when an special election will be on the ballot during the general election. The seat, which expires June 30, 2007, will also be up for election during the township’s municipal election next May.
Meanwhile, the candidates are already getting a taste of small town, municipal government as the remaining four members of council differ over the process for choosing a new member.
Three members of council — President Charles Morgan, Linda Geevers and Heidi Kleinman — plan to meet individually with five of candidates during closed session on Monday, May 15. The remaining candidates will be scheduled for a separate session in the future.
But Council Vice President Franc Gambatese says the closed-session meetings are improper, and he wants nothing to do with the process.
“I felt strongly that we should interview them as a group,” says Morgan. “The primary reason is that you want to have apples-to-apples comparisons. The only was you can get that is if all of council is in the same room at the same time listening to the candidates answers to our questions — base set of questions.”
Morgan says that he is working with Geevers and Kleinman to devise a set of questions to present to each candidate during the individual interviews. There will also be an opportunity for council members to ask follow up questions, if necessary.
Gambatese has his own plans. “I question the legality of meeting with them in closed session. This is not an administrator, or township employee we’re hiring. It’s an elected official. I don’t agree with the process, and I’m not going to take part in it.”
Gambatese adds that he won’t be available for Monday due to a prior commitment. “Even if I was, I wouldn’t be participating.”
“I want to sit down with each person, and I intend to meet with every single person who applied, says Gambatese. “I want to sit down with the person and talk to them, for as long as it takes. To me that’s how you interview somebody.”
He points out that the process has been riddled with confusion almost from the word go. “Charlie put out a press release on what the process would be without talking to council. Then he went away for three weeks and left the rest of us to try figure out the details.”
The release, which announced the May 15 meeting, said that people interested in the vacancy could attend the session and inform council of their interest in being considered during the session. The rest of council ultimately decided to scrap part of the plan and required the candidates to submit an application to the clerk’s office by May 5.
Morgan says he doesn’t understand Gambatese’s rationale. “It’s kind of unfair to force each of the candidates to talk to all five of us separately. The executive session will be strictly limited to questions. Heidi, Linda, and I, cannot deliberate in executive session.”
Morgan says he expects council will hold a discussion in open session during a meeting on Monday, May 22, or Monday, June 5.
He points out that council can also opt to not fill the seat and leave it vacant until the November election. “Based on paper, it (the candidate pool) seems to reflect a lot of the diversity in the community, with the possible exception of our Chinese friends,” Morgan says. “It would have been nice to have a little more diversity.”
The person chosen, says Morgan, will have an advantage in the November and May elections because he or she can run as an incumbent.
“For the right candidate. I’d like to see the seat filled,” otherwise council may want to consider leaving it open and let the voters make a decision in November, Morgan says.
Gambatese says he believes that with important issues such as redevelopment facing the township in the coming weeks, it’s important to find a replacement for Appelget.
“There was a lot of great talent that came forward,” he says. “To get 10 people that want to step forward in West Windsor these days is something that you wouldn’t have seen five or six years ago. I think it’s important to fill the seat now. There are too many things pending.”
