Former West Windsor Councilman Charles Morgan has taken up a new crusade in the township after leaving his post of 12 years last December. Although Morgan’s permanent address is now Florida he retains a home at the Elements, where he recently went door-to-door to tell registered voters and his former neighbors about a petition — one that aims at avenging the lawsuits against Mayor Hsueh that Morgan lost in court over the past year.
The petition would endorse an amendment to the township code requiring the mayor to provide “a direct and timely written response when a council member requests a report about a township matter.” The notion stems from Morgan’s two unsuccessful lawsuits against Mayor Hsueh for failure to provide him with responses when he requested information. The petition outlines the proposed changes as follows:
“The mayor shall respond to such request within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed thirty (30) days without the written permission of the requesting Council member, by providing a written report to such Council member with copies to the Township Clerk and the other Council members. The Mayor’s written report shall restate the request made by such Council member and shall be limited to answering the specific requests made by the Council member. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the Mayor from delegating to staff and/or appropriate professionals the research and preparation of answers for the Mayor to include in the Mayor’s report to the Council member. ‘Written’ includes electronic communications such as email and attachments to email,” the petition states.
Morgan isn’t alone in this endeavor. The petition outlines five West Windsor residents who are responsible for its circulation and filing: Nitin Shah, Paul Murphy, Andrew Hersh, James Solloway, and Deborah Hepler. Solloway and Hepler have each made their presence known at council meetings in the last six months, speaking up about West Windsor’s government and apparent shortcomings that they see.
Morgan and the group will file the petition with the Township Clerk Sharon Young. Her office needs to verify that the petition shows approval from 10 percent of the voter turnout at the last election, calling for at least 456 signatures.
Morgan says once that happens the question of “whether the mayor can continue to be allowed to ignore council” will go on the ballot in November.
“After only a week of soliciting signatures, we have obtained more than 300 signatures. Very few people have refused to sign the petition — perhaps one person in 25. A lot of people have been reluctant to sign the petition but still wanted to know what it was about. All of those people, without exception, ended up signing it,” Morgan says.
Besides the Elements and other West Windsor neighborhoods, Morgan also collected signatures from residents by standing outside the West Windsor municipal complex on Thursday, May 24, during and after the special town hall held to discuss the proposed solar field at Mercer County Community College (see photo above). The event was organized by Christine Bator, chair of the Republican Committee, Councilwoman Linda Geevers and several residents of South Post Road.
In the process of soliciting signatures, Morgan took a renewed interest in hearing from residents in general. He says people are surprised to learn that it is illegal for council members to talk to the township staff without permission of the mayor.
“Council members do not have any staff of their own working on things like the budget or the amount of taxes to raise in a budget. They are surprised to learn that council members must go through the mayor or the administrator for information, and they’re also surprised to hear that the mayor and/or the administrator will refuse to provide answers to questions posed by council members,” said Morgan.
Morgan also noted that people in West Windsor were surprised to learn that, in 1999, Mayor Hsueh voted to subpoena records from Mayor Carson “because he was not getting information from the mayor that he felt he needed as council president.” He says the real problem has nothing to do with the particular person who is mayor or the people who are on council.
“If a council member cannot get the information he needs to make an informed vote, then something is seriously wrong,” Morgan wrote in an E-mail to the WW-P News.
“I am confident they will pass since the subpoena in 1999 from Hsueh to Carson shows that this is not about me and Hsueh, it’s about fixing a problem that has existed for more than a decade and will be a problem with the next Mayor, whoever that might be. When the voters approve the change, history will no longer repeat itself in the future — and we should have a lot less controversy in the future.”
Mayor Hsueh has a different take. He says on a recent walk in the Elements neighborhood, a longtime resident and registered Republican voter approached him to say that he was against Morgan’s petition. The resident also told Hsueh that he was unhappy about the recent political agendas organized by West Windsor Republicans, past and present. “He said it made him feel ashamed,” Mayor Hsueh said.
The mayor also says that Morgan’s involvement in the community is all about getting back at him. Hsueh says people are not supposed to set up outside the municipal building to solicit for any reason, and furthermore Morgan is no longer a legitimate voter in New Jersey, so he should not be lobbying to get items on the township’s ballot.
Hsueh also says that Morgan is currently receiving a pension from West Windsor Township, but before it was sent to him Morgan suspected that the mayor made calls to Trenton to delay the processing of the pension.
“Does he think I have the power to stop his pension payment? Why would I do that? I have no authority over any state administration, let alone now that there is a Republican administration,” Hsueh said.
But Morgan said politics are not part of his new cause. Instead he commented on the community’s involvement in West Windsor, saying most people here are tuned into township matters and were well-aware of his legal battles with the mayor over this situation. “There are an amazing number of people who watch council meetings on television and are really well-informed,” Morgan said.
