Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh and two new council members will be sworn-in at the annual West Windsor Township reorganization meeting on Friday, July 1.##M:[more]##
Hsueh and his council running mates in the May municipal election, Linda Geevers and Heidi Kleinman, will be inducted to three-year terms at the meeting. Under West Windsor’s non-partisan form of government, the fiscal year runs between July 1 and June 30.
The meeting, to be held at noon at town hall, will also feature the election of council president, and vice president, and the representative on the planning board. Other council positions will also be determined such liaison to the zoning board, public safety, WW-P Board of Education, and affordable housing committee.
Council is also expected to vote to re-appoint Business Administrator Chris Marion, whose term runs concurrent with the mayor’s. Marion has drawn rave reviews from township officials for his performance since he was hired in 2003 to replace Administrator Barbara Evans, who retired.
Political insiders speculate that Charles Morgan, who served as vice president last year, will be elected council president for 2005-06. Morgan and other council members contacted by the News declined to discuss the election of officers, but did confirm an arrangement has been reached.
“We have an informal understanding of who will be sitting in what chair,” says Morgan. “I have brokered these things in the past. For example, I was instrumental in getting Rae Roeder in the council president’s seat several years ago. I was also involved in the decision that led Alison (Miller) to sit in that chair.”
Morgan says that this time around “I tried to be an honest broker with the other members of council. There were a number of people who wanted a particular seat. In the process, we tried to take into consideration everybody’s respective likes and dislikes.”
Political pundits predict that the re-election of Hsueh and the addition of Geevers and Kleinman to the governing body will eliminate some of the bickering that has occurred in recent years on council.
Hsueh, Geevers, and Kleinman were all endorsed by the three sitting members of council — Morgan, Franc Gambatese, and Kristin Appelget.
The political breakdown on council is three Republicans — Appelget, Morgan, and Geevers, and two Democrats — Gambatese and Kleinman.
“I’m certainly hoping the meetings will be less political and more business with the new folks on board,” says Morgan. “We’re also going to work to observe our own rules, such as not speaking unless acknowledged by the chair. You never know until it happens, but we’re going to try to exercise a process that’s conducive to a well-run meeting that’s professional.”
Council has also decided that the township attorney, business administrator, and mayor will all sit on the dais with council. In the past, all three have sat at a table in front of the dais with their backs to the audience. The township attorney is expected to sit between the council president and vice president, similar to the positioning of the planning board attorney.
According to Morgan, seating the township attorney between council members will “symbolize the fact that the attorney is in that setting advocating and representing council.”
He adds that seating Hsueh and Marion on the dais with council “gives them the respect they deserve and will allow them to face the audience.”
