With preliminary budget discussions on the horizon next month and the draft redevelopment plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area in the Planning Board’s hands, another topic has also gained attention in West Windsor — the upcoming municipal election.##M:[more]##
This May two council seats, as well as the mayor’s, are up for grabs, and at least one council member has already decided not to seek re-election.
Heidi Kleinman, who will complete her first term on council in July, announced right before the new year that she will not seek re-election this spring. Kleinman, who served three years on the Planning Board before being elected to council in May, 2005, says she will remain active in the community.
Kleinman said her decision not to run again was actually made in July, months before she announced it. Kleinman indicated at the December 29 council meeting that Councilwoman Linda Geevers, who is also up for re-election this year, had continued to ask her to reconsider “every month” since she made the decision.
Kleinman said her decision not to run was based on her own personal philosophy. “I believe that people should step up, and I hope with my announcements that somebody who is willing to put in the time will come forward because I have taken this role very seriously, and I hope that the kind of person who steps up is very involved and goes to lots of meetings and really tries to understand the issues in town,” Kleinman said.
Kleinman says she is out at least two or three nights every week of the year because of her responsibilities on council, combined with other organizations for which she volunteers or serves. Kleinman also currently serves on the Planning Board, which she has done for three of her four years on council, as well as the environmental committee and the arts council. “It just takes a lot of time, and I’ve enjoyed it,” Kleinman says. “I’ve surely expanded my horizons, but I think it’s time.”
When asked whether she had any other candidates in mind who she would like to endorse, Kleinman said that there are a few people she would like to see run. “This is the time where maybe I can nudge them a little to say, ‘Hey, my seat is open,’” Kleinman said. “I definitely would encourage people to call me up to talk about it.”
Kleinman says she would like to stay on the Planning Board, a position that is given out by mayoral appointment, which is a decision not made until July. She also says that she will continue to chair the Greening of West Windsor (GroWW) event. A brainchild of Kleinman, the first GroWW was held this past September. The environmental fair is held at the West Windsor Farmer’s Market and is hosted by the West Windsor Environmental Commission, and the West Windsor Farmers Market, and FOWWOS (Friends of West Windsor Open Space).
“I’ve given four years to this role, and I have always volunteered in my community, and I will continue to do that,” Kleinman said.
Outside of her work on council and in other township ventures, Kleinman is the president of her own architectural firm. Her husband, Ted Ross, who most recently has worked with a hedge fund, previously had been a president of a computer software firm, director with global agricultural company American Cyanamid, and founder of a real estate specialty finance company.
Kleinman was born and raised in Springfield, and Ross is from West Orange. She attended school at Virginia Polytechnic Institute’s architecture school, and he attended New York University, and the two met after college.
After their marriage, Ross worked in Wayne for American Cyanamid. The couple moved to West Windsor in 1997, when Ross pursued an entrepreneurial venture with a friend in the computer software business. The couple also run their own business, South Mill Design, LLC, which cells Phubbys — a product that allows cell phone users to carry their phones on their wrists, feel the phone vibrate, and access them quickly when a call comes in.
Meanwhile, upon hearing Kleinman’s announcement at the December 29 meeting, Geevers confirmed she will be seeking her second term on council this May.
When asked if she is forming a slate with anyone, Geevers said she had not made the announcement yet, but will be doing so in the coming weeks, and that there are candidates interested in running with her. Geevers served two terms — six years — on the school board before being elected to the council in May, 2005.
“One of the big campaign issues is the budget, and I think we should continue with our sound planning practices, and we want to maintain our Triple A bond rating,” Geevers said. “We’re in a deep recession, so we should continue with a very conservative budget.”
She said that the revenue side of the budget will also be heavily examined due to the ailing economy.
Redevelopment might still be a hot issue in this year’s campaign, even though it is set to come back to the council from the Planning Board quite a while before the election. Geevers said “there are people who have strong feelings either way about the plan. It’s not easy building consensus, but we think we’re trying to listen hard to what all the residents are saying.”
But taxes, which go back to the budget, will be among the big issues. “Many people in town who work on Wall Street and other industries are getting laid off,” she said. “We’re mindful of that. Fiscally, we’re in a pretty sound position with township finances, but overall, it’s a very tough economy out there.”
Geevers is urging residents to attend the budget meetings, which should begin sometime in February, during which department heads speak to council about each of their respective budgets. “You learn a lot by coming to these meetings, rather than just coming to the end for the public hearings.”
Geevers holds a degree in communication arts from Cornell University, class of 1981. Geevers has three daughters. She and her husband, Neil, live in the Hunters Run development.
The race for the mayor’s seat had already begun taking shape before the new year, when Township Council President Charlie Morgan confirmed last month that he intends to run for mayor in the election this May against current Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, who will also seek re-election.
Morgan, a consultant on finance and employee benefits using life insurance structures, has been on council since 1999. The announcement that he would run for mayor came less than a week after InterCap Holdings filed a lawsuit against the township, and about two weeks after council voted to send a draft redevelopment plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station to the planning board for review.
Morgan sent out a press release on December 18 focused mainly on redevelopment and financial issues. The press release also exemplified the tension that has been seen all year during work on the train station redevelopment.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, in response, confirmed he would be running for re-election. Hsueh formerly served as a state administrator with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. He was previously appointed by the governor to sit on a state health facilities financing authority and served as the treasurer on the state Water Supply Authority.
Hsueh also said he was not ready to announce his slate yet, but expects to do so by the end of January.
Morgan has scheduled his first fundraiser for Monday, January 19, at the Amici Restaurant. Morgan says he is in search of candidates to run on a slate with him.
“It’s a tough economy,” he says. “I’m hearing a lot of people really want to focus on keeping those jobs. They can’t afford to spend the time or the money that would be required. I’m also hearing people say, ‘Look, the amount of time you have to spend and the amount of criticism you have to endure for the small amount of pay just isn’t working.’”
Rumors that former Councilman Franc Gambatese was thinking of making a run for the mayor’s seat were squelched with Gambatese saying he will not run for the position. “I’m a very busy person,” he said. “I wish I had the time to.”
