Even though the decision regarding the fate of the Grover Farmstead was taken off the agenda at the June 10 West Windsor Town Council meeting (and now rescheduled for Monday, July 8), fireworks still erupted, this time over a non-agenda item. Council candidate and resident Debbie Hepler complained that Lieutenant Robert Garofalo of the West Windsor Police Department spoke to her in a “rude, unprofessional, and intimidating manner,” at the police station after she reported an incident involving an unidentified man who was spotted on her property taking pictures of her home. Hepler claimed that Garofalo’s behavior was “politically motivated” because she is running for town council.
Resident and former council member Franc Gambatese, who originally attended the meeting to speak about the Grover Farmstead issue, instead came to the podium to praise Garofalo, who, he said, “is a very good officer, who has served the township faithfully and professionally.” He also admonished Helper by saying, “Any complaints should not be handled in a public forum such as this, but rather with the individual’s supervisor. To air them in public is unfair to the individual [being spoken about].”
Chief of Police Joe Pica also spoke out in favor of Garofalo, and said that he had personally investigated the incident and found no wrong-doing. Said Pica, “we are a professional police department, and we do a lot for this community, and I personally take offense that someone would say that we would use intimidation because of politics.”
He emphasized that the police department does not get involved in local politics, and that there is a process for residents to follow when making a complaint about an officer, which had not been followed in this case.
Garofalo also spoke at the meeting, saying that Hepler had been the one to raise politics during their discussion: “I got a full lesson in politics from her about everything that is wrong with the town, from the mayor, to the Grovers Farm issue, and the animal control officer issue. She didn’t mention any of this a few minutes ago when she was up here at the podium. As I told her then, and I tell her again now, anytime you — or anyone — wants information, I will give you anything you need, and will give you a cup of coffee to go with it.”
Hepler, who has already spoken twice during public comment, attempted to speak a third time, but was halted by Council President George Borek, who told her repeatedly that “You are out of order,” until she returned to her seat.
The rest of the meeting was relatively uneventful. After some discussion, the council agreed to remove the agenda item regarding the renewal of the shared services agreement with the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district for the cable television channels shared between the two townships and the board. Council member Bryan Maher asked for additional information regarding the financing of the agreement. This item will be placed back on the Council agenda at a later date.
Township network administrator Christopher Wade gave a presentation on the administration’s proposal to purchase computer and networking equipment to upgrade the current server infrastructure, at a cost of $130,000. According to Wade, some of the benefits of the upgrade will include “lower power consumption, fewer physical servers, more network reliability, quicker downtime rebound, faster recovery time, a large increase is memory space, and better safety features.” After the presentation, council voted unanimously to approve the proposal.
Council also approved the purchase of a new 16-person passenger shuttle bus for senior citizen transportation, at a cost of $65,315. The current bus, which has recently been undergoing repairs, will be used as an alternate bus for other township needs, if appropriate.
In addition, the Council agreed to approve an energy efficiency audit, to be conducted by CDM Smith, at a cost of $26,330, under the NJ Board of Public Utilities Local Government Energy Audit Program, as well as the purchase of a 2013 Ford F350 4WD truck for the Department of Public Works (which will cost $47,435).
The Council also approved the renewal of the following 2013-’14 liquor licenses: McCaffrey’s Wine & Spirits; Wegmans Food Market; Trader Joes East; Cranbury Management Inc. (The Bog); Grayling Corp (Chili’s); TGI Fridays Inc.; Davidson Hotel Company LLC (Hyatt Regency); Muer Corporation (Big Fish); OTB Acquisition of New Jersey (On the Border Mexican cafe); PF Chang China Bistro; Mac Acquisition of New Jersey (Romanos Macaroni Grill); Noble I/HY Princeton OP CO LLC (Hyatt Place); MarketFair Holdings LLC.
Municipal Complex Upgrade. At the June 24 meeting, the council discussed whether to hold a public referendum in November to decide whether the municipal building should be renovated, at a cost that could be as high as $5 million. Council President George Borek was not present at the meeting, and the other four Council members did not reach agreement on the referendum question.
Council member Bryan Maher suggested that the council should decide quickly whether it supported or opposed the idea of a public referendum, but colleague Linda Geevers disagreed, noting that what was being discussed at Council was preliminary, and that the Administration had not yet completed a finalized plan. “The plan could change. We have to let people know what they’re voting for,” she noted.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said, “Linda made a fair point. All that we have so far is the space needs analysis review. It is merely the first step in a long process. We also need to complete the local government energy audit, which was approved as the last council meeting (see above), and then we need to complete the third step, which is the climate action plan, before we can even come up with completed floor plans, budget estimates, or anything concrete.”
The Council did agree to have a public tour of the building, which will be conducted by Spiezle Architectural Group, the firm that prepared the space needs review. During the tour, Spiezle representatives will explain their findings and answer questions. The tour date will be announced at a future Council meeting.
The review considered more efficient space utilization as well as physical building needs including current code deficiencies and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) deficiencies. The other two studies are currently ongoing, under the aegis of the Environmental Commission. The climate action plan will advise the twnship on how to reduce its carbon footprint to comply with newly enacted State statutes, and the energy audit will include proposals on how to make municipal buildings more energy efficient. Both studies are being funded by grants, and Spiezle is assisting with the climate action plan as well.
In addition, council members unanimously approved the following: purchase of road maintenance materials for North Post Road through the Mercer County Cooperative Contract Purchasing System from American Asphalt Company at a cost of $35,000; a developer’s agreement with Princeton Junction Commons LLC; a land development performance guarantee agreement with GMRI Inc. (aka Madison-Marquette/Marketfair Re-Tenanting); a donation from Mershon “Wildflowers Farm” of a circa 1930s windmill for display at the Schenck Farm Museum; and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra fireworks display to be held at Mercer County Park on Sunday, June 30.
