Put it to a vote. For the next six months, the West Windsor Township Council’s newest president is hoping that her set of changes will cut down on the rancor at the dais.
Diane Ciccone said she is hoping to have a proficient, proactive, and respectful council that is more efficient in its work. For this reason, she said she will revert back to the former system, which is to hold an agenda session on the second Monday of the month, followed by a business session.
At the agenda session, the administration will be required to go over any upcoming contracts or issues that will need to be approved at the business session so that all council members will have the chance to ask questions and be fully educated on the matters on which they are voting, a recurring issue that has plagued the last year of discussions.
“On the second Monday of every month, the administration will say, ‘We’ve got this contract coming up,’ and it will give us the opportunity to discuss it,” she said. “It also gives us the opportunity to be proactive. The work session for the council will allow them to talk about things and policy and an opportunity for the administration to tell us what is on their plate.”
Recently, some council members have said they were not provided sufficient detail on matters on which they were asked to vote. This, combined with a lack of consensus on some issues, has created longer meetings with repetitive conversations. “I don’t like it when anyone is put into a position where they ask a question, and they can’t get an answer,” she said. “If the business administrator knows the council members have these kinds of questions, he can answer it, and we can come to a decision. He may not have the answers at the agenda session, but he may have it at the next business meeting before we vote on it.”
She also hopes to put an end to repetitive discussions. “We talk at each other; we don’t listen,” added Ciccone. “If there is an issue on the table, instead of the issue resurfacing every six months or two years, vote on it.”
“After a while, when you see there is no consensus, and you see someone has a view that is contrary, just vote on it and be done with it,” she added. “We need to make a decision and move on. People get locked into positions, and it gets personal.”
This will also be beneficial in creating better communication and understanding between members of the council and the administration, Ciccone said. “I want to say, ‘This is the issue,’ fully vet the issue, and come to some kind of resolution, and vote on it.”
Being new to the council, as she was appointed last spring and elected in November to fill the remainder of the term, can help further her cause, she said. Because she and Kamal Khanna, the council’s newest vice president, also a rookie at the dais, are new, “we don’t have that history. We’re coming in with a clean slate.”
Right away Ciccone and Khanna sat down with the clerk’s office and Business Administrator Robert Hary to iron out the details of the upcoming work session on Monday, July 12. “We made it clear that anything put on the business meeting has to be discussed at the agenda session.”
With regard to specific issues, Ciccone said that because West Windsor will be applying for Sustainable Jersey certification in September, she hopes to schedule a time for the Environmental Commission to come to a council meeting to talk about sustainability issues. Having seen that Princeton recently instituted a pilot program for composting, she wants to bring someone in to present a similar concept to the council and administration.
She also is concerned about creating a better process for discussing the municipal budget throughout the year, beginning with the efficiency study for which the town has budgeted. “We can have meetings so we can formulate the kind of questions that we’ve been having throughout the year,” she said. “Whoever does the efficiency study can address those issues.”
Ciccone said she is focused on finding areas to reduce costs so that the council can reduce taxes yet still keep the same level of services. Another one of her priorities is to work with the business community in West Windsor, building on the establishment of a business task force that was created this year. She and Khanna attended the first meeting on June 29. “The first thing they’re going to do is look at the sign ordinance,” she said. “They’re going to come back to the council with their recommendations on the sign ordinance and anything else they feel will help us be more business-friendly, whether it be going through the permit process or signs.”
“Our business community has been overlooked, not intentionally,” she said. “They are certainly a source of revenue.”
Ciccone said she will not seek to be re-selected by her colleagues as council president come January, even though she will have only served six months. She said that if she decides to run for re-election, it will be too much on her plate.
