West Windsor Town Council’s annual re-organization meeting on Tuesday, January 3, presented one less change than was expected. As the meeting began Councilman Bryan Maher nominated Linda Geevers for council president. Geevers had been expected to take the role from Kamal Khanna. But Geevers surprised many in attendance by withdrawing herself from consideration.
“I was looking at some township minutes going back all the way to 1797, which you can barely view, and since 1999 council has had the tradition of moving the presidency from one council member to the next. My colleagues know my position on that, I do strongly believe that it should rotate, but I understand the reality of where we are as a township and needing to work together. I appreciate being nominated but I am going to decline,” Geevers said.
George Borek nominated Council President Kamal Khanna to retain the gavel, and shortly afterward council approved his position by a vote of four to one, with the lone dissenting vote cast by Maher.
Just before the meeting the municipal complex was buzzing with belated holiday cheer as over 30 township residents greeted each other and the new town council at the annual reorganization meeting and a swearing-in ceremony for new members of council.
During council member comments, Maher promised to provide scrutiny of the township’s finances. “Whereas my vote may not go the way some people might think it will over the next four years, please rest assured that I’m trying to look at everything from a granular financial standpoint. One of the biggest things we heard during the election and one of the reasons why our team got so many votes was because people are very concerned about the tax situation,” Maher said.
He added that every budget item and financial decision is important because of the impact on each household.
“If people are moving from West Windsor because they cannot afford taxes, or people won’t move here because taxes are too high, that affects all of us. We need to keep this in mind while maintaining the quality of life that we have here,” Maher said.
New Council member Kristina Samonte is also eager to work on the township’s fiscal management. She says West Windsor must learn from its past experiences and be more organized and open book.
“I think we need to standardize our process and our approach going forward, particularly in this time of budget constraints. This will yield accuracy and efficiency. Secondly, transparent and active communication will mitigate and improve the perception of our efforts up here. Council should make every attempt to inform the public of what has been accomplished, what is currently being addressed and what we are attempting to yield in the future,” she said.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh spoke about the accomplishments of 2011 and the objectives he has in place for 2012, first and foremost addressing the need to connect business owners in the township and do more to attract tax ratables to town. Hsueh said that in his meetings with business owners some had told him 2011 was their worst year doing business in West Windsor, but the community was still in much better economic shape than surrounding areas.
Hsueh also gave the public details on the Wallace Road project (page 10) as well as plans to build an Environmental Education Center at the Schenck farm (page 18).
West Windsor Town Council also scheduled its regular meetings for 2012, set for alternate Mondays at 7 p.m. Agenda sessions, which let the council meet each of the first four weeks of a month, have been eliminated with extra time allotted during council’s business meetings.
Council members were designated as liaisons to the township’s various boards and committees.
George Borek will serve as council liaison to the West Windsor Parking Authority and the council representative for emergency management. Kristina Samonte was designated a non-voting Class III member of the West Windsor Planning Board. Linda Geevers will serve as a member of the Affordable Housing Committee as well as liaison to the school board. Bryan Maher will be council liaison to the West Windsor Zoning Board of Adjustment, and Kamal Khanna will serve as council liaison to the environmental commission, where he will interact with former councilwoman Diane Ciccone as she begins her new role as an advisor with the commission.
Eleven people were confirmed for re-appointment to township committees as well:
West Windsor Zoning Board of Appeals: Curtis Hoberman, term expiring December 31, 2015; Henry Jacobsohn, expiring December 31, 2015; Meg Chicco, expiring December 31, 2013 (alternate).
Human Relations Council: Liz von Autenried, term expiring December 31, 2012; Barbara Ingram-Edmonds, expiring December 31, 2013; Jenny Lee, expiring December 31, 2013.
Site Plan Review Advisory Board: Allen Schectel, term expiring December 31, 2014; Fu-Grand Lin, expiring December 31, 2014.
Parking Authority: Lyle Girandola, term expiring December 31, 2016.
Agricultural Advisory Committee: Steve Jany, term expiring December 31, 2014.
Shade Tree Commission: Paul Pitluk, term expiring December 31, 2016.
Also, John Currie has been appointed to the board of recreation commissioners to fill the unexpired term of an alternate, which was set to expire on December 31, 2014.
