Forty people attended the final West Windsor Township Council meeting on Monday, December 19. But many were not there to spread holiday cheer and share fond memories with outgoing Council members Charles Morgan or Diane Ciccone. Instead residents turned out to voice their opinion on the elimination of West Windsor’s Animal Control Officer Bettina Roed, whose position was cut eight months earlier when the township entered into a shared services agreement with East Windsor. That agreement was up for a year-long renewal for 2012 at a cost of $20,000.
In a surprising turn Councilman Morgan made a motion to approve the recommendation and then voted against it, along with Ciccone and Councilman George Borek. Linda Geevers and Kamal Khanna voted in favor but the vote of 3-2 stood and denied the contract extension, bringing about a round of applause from 90 percent of the residents in attendance.
Following the meeting Morgan explained his reasoning for changing the position he took back in April, when Morgan voted in favor of the shared services agreement thinking it would save the township a substantial amount of money. When he recently saw a memo from West Windsor Police Chief Joe Pica stating that the township has essentially reduced its all-around level of services to merely what is required by the state Morgan says the premise he assumed at the time of the April vote “was mistaken.”
“I voted no this time because ALL the residents with whom I have spoken want the higher level of services previously provided. Consequently, I voted no this time around given the very small amount of dollars involved, relatively speaking, and given my fiduciary obligation to provide the services desired by our residents,” Morgan says.
Diane Ciccone and Morgan left Council on this note, which was seen as a first step back to having an ACO by some residents. However, Morgan predicted that the new members of council may overturn the no vote soon. Morgan believed the administration would bring the shared services agreement back in front of council and that one of the new council members, Kristina Samonte and Bryan Maher, will support the agreement.
“With Diane Ciccone gone and our two ‘no’ votes gone from Council, I suspect that the new Council will get the one additional vote needed to approve the agreement (assuming that Geevers and Khanna continue to vote ‘yes’ and assuming that the third ‘yes’ vote will come from one of the new members of Council),” Morgan wrote in an E-mail to the News.
For now, residents in support of Roed’s reinstatement sang her praises during public comments.
John T. Jones of 252 Cranbury Road has lived in West Windsor with his wife Ruth for 40 years. He called the move to eliminate Roed’s position “disgraceful.”
“I strongly suggest you table the recommendation to continue the shared services agreement until there’s a comprehensive cost analysis report prepared and made available to the public. That report must look at both the expected annual service cost by the outside organization and the impact of increased police department activity to liaison with East Windsor,” he said.
Debbie Heckler, a 20 year resident of the township, said she constantly was in touch with Roed for a number of concerns, including feral cats and wild turkeys.
“She served a really important function to this town and I don’t know what we’re going to do without that,” she said.
Emily Epstein of 42 Lakeshore Drive, who works with a local animal group, said she was most concerned with the potential for more animals being euthanized as a result of the situation.
“I am extremely concerned about what’s happening to West Windsor’s animals. Anybody that cares about the township and the people and animals here would not renew this contract. What has happened is actually the worst case scenario,” she said, speaking about the lack of continuity with animal control falling into the laps of the police department, the health inspector and East Windsor.
Kim White of 54 Montgomery Street told council to consider the following questions.
“What was the cost for the animal control with East Windsor for the time period of April to December, 2011? How did the township come up with the cost for animal control services for next year? Does the cost of $20,000 go directly to the East Windsor ACO or does it include the cost of housing and medical care for township strays? If not, then what amount is set aside for the animals picked up?” she asked.
White said the township has dealt with three rabid animals — a skunk, a cat, and a fox — in the past four months and it was unfathomable to go without a full-time A.C.O to serve West Windsor’s growing population.
While the shared services agreement with East Windsor was voted against, other recommendations from the administration were approved, including the following:
— In the spring a new children’s playground will be installed at Zaitz Park adjacent to the two soccer fields. Council authorized an expense of $38,773.83 to come from a 2008 capital account for the purchase of playground equipment from Marturano Recreation Company in Spring Lake.
“We’ve got quite a bit of soccer going on there during the spring and the fall and this is an opportunity, while the older kids are playing soccer, to have the playground for the younger kids, their siblings,” said Business Administrator Robert Hary. “At the same time there really is no park in that area although there’s considerable residential developments, so it does give us another of what we call a pocket park where parents can bring their young kids,” Hary said.
— A resolution authorizing the transfer of funds in the 2011 municipal budget to go to the Twin W first aid squad was passed. Hary said Twin W appealed for additional funding earlier in the year because they were having difficulties with fundraising and needed money for safety supplies and lights.
“I had the impression that council would be amenable to the request,” Hary said.
Before the vote Councilmember Diane Ciccone asked that the administration set aside more money for this fund in the municipal budget as a line item, and Hary responded that this was the case going forward. He said Twin W will be allocated a 50 percent increase in funding for 2012, from $30,000 in 2011 up to $45,000.
— Collective Bargaining Agreements; one with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and one with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Both contracts will run the two-year period from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012. Increases of 1.75 percent and 1.9 percent will be in effect for 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Hary explained that contract negotiations continued for a full year with nothing in place, saying that talks were contentious at times and the CWA deal required mediation.
Councilmembers Ciccone and Morgan used the opportunity to thank everyone who meant much to them throughout their careers on council as well as speak on the tremendous amount of good that they have seen in West Windsor throughout the years.
Ciccone said West Windsor is fortunate to have synergy between “volunteers, community groups, and municipal employees of this town, and it’s a shame that across the country they’re being blamed for all the ills of what’s going on in government.”
Ciccone said her main goal was always to highlight the positive things that council and West Windsor as a community have done. After presenting her with a plaque for her service, Council President Kamal Khanna said he will miss Ciccone’s enthusiasm for “due diligence” as well as her friendship on the dais very much.
“I tried to always move us forward and look under the hood of the car. I know sometimes my colleagues and even Mr. Hary thought I asked too many questions but I always asked questions to better understand. More importantly a lot of times I knew the answers and I thought it was important that the public understood exactly what we were trying to do. After I did my due diligence that’s when I felt more comfortable in voting,” she said.
Ciccone also thanked Mayor Hsueh for appointing her as an advisor to the Environmental Commission, which she will remain active in the community with as well as her roles with the farmer’s market, West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance and the West Windsor Arts Council.
Finally Ciccone thanked her husband, Daryl McMillan. When Ciccone was appointed in 2009 the couple’s only child had already graduated from high school, allowing for what she says was extra time to spend together or travel and do other activities.
“With my work on council, it’s not just the Monday night meetings but it’s the Sunday afternoons, Thursdays and Fridays to be prepared. He respected my willingness and want to be in public service,” she said.
Morgan took some time to recollect the beginning of his run on Council, back when Bill Clinton was the president. “The reason I got involved in all of this is because I got pissed off,” he said.
Morgan referenced the specific examples of what triggered his political run. First was the “Miller ordinance” (named for former Councilwoman Alison Miller) which he defined as a “downzoning ordinance” that increased the amount of acreage needed on which to build a home in West Windsor.
“Basically, what that meant was that it reduced the value of the farm land because it reduced the number of house lots that could be sold. The idea was to limit the number of new homes that could be built, limit the number of new school children and thereby limit the increase in taxes driven by all those new homes and students,” Morgan said.
He saw it as unfair to farmers because the land they own is one of their biggest assets.
“The value provides a source of income for them when they retire and sell the land to finance their retirement. It funds their pensions. When the downzoning ordinance was passed, it reduced the value of the land and also reduced the farmers’ ‘nest egg’ for their retirement,” Morgan said. Looking back, he says the quick way in which it passed didn’t give the farmers and public much chance to provide input and objections.
Finally Morgan spoke about one more factor that made him run for Council: the instance when, ironically, then-councilmen Shing Fu-Hsueh and Tom Frascella were suing West Windsor Mayor Carole Carson for not providing information to them.
With his own lawsuits against Mayor Hsueh continuing as he leaves Council, Morgan sighed and said “history repeats itself.”
