2014-15 marks two decades since Ewing changed its form of government
By Bill Sanservino
While it’s been two decades since Ewing Township changed its form of government, it’s taken much of that time for the township’s leadership to grow into the change, according to Pete Guzzo, the man who acted as the catalyst for that change.
This past November marked the 20th anniversary of the election where township voters elected a five-member council and a directly elected mayor for the first time. Guzzo, a long-time township resident and former member of the township committee, was a driving force in changing Ewing from a township committee to a strong mayor-council form of government.
Guzzo said that it often takes many years, and often times the right person, for a change in government to work to its fullest effect, and he believes that in Mayor Bert Steinmann, Ewing has the right person for the job.
“There’s an old saying: Does the office make the man or woman, or does the man or woman make the office? I don’t think that just creating the office of mayor by itself is a guarantee that good things will happen, because you have to get good people in those positions,” Guzzo said. “People with vision.”
He said he doesn’t want to play down the efforts of past mayors, but he believes that Steinmann is using the power of the mayor’s office to its fullest effect.
“It’s been 20 years, and that’s a long time, but I think the form of government is just now starting to show its strengths,” Guzzo said. “If you asked me 10 years ago, I might not have been as positive about this as I am now. When I see what Bert is doing, I think the form of government is reaching its full potential. It’s a combination of the right person in the right office.”
The results of this year’s Nov. 4 general election seem to indicate that the electorate agrees. Steinmann was the first mayor since Al Bridges — the town’s first directly elected mayor — in 1998 to win re-election. And he did so by an overwhelming margin.
Steinmann defeated Republican challenger Jack Ball by a vote of 5,998 to 3,002, according to unofficial election results. Elected to council were both of Steinmann’s running mates, Kathleen Wollert (5,770 votes) and Sarah Steward (5,632 votes) over Republican challengers Susan Bagley (2,978 votes) and Anthony Davis (2,919 votes).
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Guzzo started pushing for the change in government in the early 1990s, because he felt the town needed the leadership a directly-elected mayor would provide.
At the time, Ewing was governed by a five-member township committee that had both administrative and legislative responsibilities. Each year the group elected a “mayor” from among its membership, but the position was largely ceremonial.
“Ewing was a community over 100 years old, and the town had been under that form of government all of that time,” Guzzo said. “I had worked for state government, and for most of my life I had been involved in government and politics. When I got elected to the township committee I felt that for a town like Ewing, [the township committee] wasn’t the best form of government for the town to move ahead. If you look at the state or federal government, the president or the governor presents an agenda, and then the legislative branch does the checks and balances.”
But changing the government wasn’t a popular idea with those in power. Although Guzzo was (and still is) a Democrat, many of his fellow party members — including its leadership — were opposed. At that time, the town was controlled by the Democrats and they feared a loss of power if a Republican were to be elected mayor.
“I didn’t really do anything while I served on the township committee, but for the six or seven years I was on there I had really made my mind up,” Guzzo said. “When I got off the township committee in 1991, I immediately started working with a group of folks who had the same ideas that I did, and we formed a non-partisan group called Ewing Citizens for Better Government. We started a petition drive, which was the first step towards getting the referendum on the ballot.”
The petition was successful, and in November 1993 township residents voted in favor of changing the form of government. A charter study commission was assembled, which ultimately recommended that the township adopt the mayor-council form of government. Under the mayor-council form, there is a strong separation of powers. The council is responsible for legislative duties and the mayor runs the township and its administration.
The charter study commission’s recommendation was put up for a referendum, and a majority of township residents voted in favor of the change. The first official election took place in November 1994, with Bridges and a five-member council being sworn into office in January 1995.
But Guzzo wasn’t one of those elected. “There were accusations made at the time,” Guzzo said, “that the reason I was trying to make the change was to create the position of mayor, which I would then run for. I said, ‘I have no interest in running for the position. I’m not doing it to create a job for myself.”
In response, Guzzo pledged that he wouldn’t run for office. In fact, after the form of government changed, Guzzo never again ran for political office in Ewing. He currently runs his own lobbying firm called TTO Government Relations in Trenton.
Steinmann said that from his perspective, the change has been good for Ewing.
“For our size, population wise, [mayor-council] is a better form of government,” Steinmann said. “Basically, the committee form of government is just that. Whatever the committee thinks is the way it’s going to go. No one person can make a decision. A directly elected mayor sets the tone or agenda for what progress or initiatives will be made while he or she is serving in that capacity.”
Steinmann also pointed out that under the township committee form of government, most the power belongs to the township’s business administrator.
“That person isn’t responsible to voters,” he said. “Now, if residents are dissatisfied with the mayor, they have an option to get rid of that individual.”
The mayor-council form also provides accountability. “It puts a face on the town, and people know who to g o to,” Steinmann said. “If they have questions about the road paving or garbage collection, they know who to complain to. The buck stops with that particular individual.”
