Franc Gambatese once again accused Will Anklowitz and Charles Morgan of trying to stall the West Windsor redevelopment plan. This time the allegation came at the December 18 council meeting, when the two spent two and a half hours questioning Township Attorney Michael J. Herbert about the contract he had written to bind the township to Hillier Architects, the firm it chose five weeks prior to create the draft plan for the 350-acre area around the Princeton Junction train station.##M:[more]##
When the vote was finally made, at 10:30 p.m., it was 4-1 in favor of authorizing the 10-month contract. The agreement will result in the township paying over $330,”000 to the West Windsor-based firm for holding public brainstorming sessions, or charrettes, and for creating the draft plan. Will Anklowitz cast the lone vote against entering into the agreement. Anklowitz says he is not against the choice of Hillier, but that he did not agree with the way the contract was written.
During the meeting, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh confirmed that Bob Hillier and other associates from the firm will attend the January 8 council meeting to discuss the agreement, the charrette process, and the creation of the draft plan. It was also confirmed that the first of the charrettes will be held in February, and that they will take place at one of the schools in the WW-P district.
The vote on the contract was taken only after a lengthy discussion that consisted mainly of questions from Anklowitz and Charles Morgan concerning the document. Township Attorney Michael Herbert explained each item called into question, and agreed only to non-substantive changes suggested by the two council members, both of whom are attorneys.
Herbert also agreed to draft a letter that will accompany the contract, asking Hillier for assurances against changes that would result in added costs for the township.
As a result of the length of the discussion, Franc Gambatese accused Anklowitz of engaging in a filibuster. “We all had access to this. You could have asked these questions in E-mails before the meeting. Let’s move ahead with this. Let’s not politicize this,” he said.
Anklowitz asked more than 30 questions about the 70-page document, all of which were answered by Herbert. Anklowitz’ questions involved whether calling the project the Princeton Junction Redevelopment Plan was a misnomer, the intellectual property rights involved with the draft plan, and whether Hillier or the township would be responsible for the cost of mailing notifications concerning the redevelopment.
While Herbert seemed reasonably patient with Anklowitz’ many questions, he appeared less so when Morgan began questioning the contract. Herbert responded to over 20 queries from Morgan, but said at one point he felt the implications of Morgan’s questions were insulting to him as a professional.
Herbert, who has been a municipal lawyer for 20 years, went so far as to say his law firm, Herbert, Van Ness, Cayci & Goodell, would be held liable should the township incur expenses due to not including the RFQ/P in the Hillier contract.
“One of the things that scares me most about this is that when we’re not looking, the cost of this could get away from us,” said Morgan.
Morgan was given assurances by Herbert and by Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh that any expenditures for the redevelopment plan above the $400,”000 already budgeted will have to be approved by council.
Council also approved wage increases for township employees, increases in fees for WaterWorks memberships in the coming year, and budget transfers to provide funding within the 2006 municipal budget.
The transfers include a total of $113,”742 to be transferred to Group Insurance ($109,”242), Public Assistance ($1,”000), and Municipal Court ($4,”000.) The funds are being taken from the Salary and Wage account ($51,”242), and from operating expenses for the governing body ($15,”000), the Planning Board ($27,”500), the Environmental commission ($5,”000), administration ($14,”000), and the Senior Citizen program ($1000).
In the early part of the meeting, Council recognized the 2006 West Windsor Little League All-Star teams for baseball and softball, both of which won the District 12 championship this summer in the league’s 50th anniversary year.
