Princeton Future may be derailed by legal problems

Princeton Future may soon be a relic of the past.

The community-based amateur consulting group appropriately named Princeton Future had hoped to play a integral role in the process that will address this very question over the next few years. However, it appears it may be legally impossible for the group to fulfill this role.

Last year, a volunteer organization of citizens from the local area, joined together with a proposal for the Princeton Borough Council, forming Princeton Future. The non-profit group consists of businesspeople, architects, engineers and lawyers. In a proposal this April, they offered their consultation services to the Borough for a fee to find ways to redesign the downtown area. The group would then hire the professionals to complete the job.

Though Princeton Future is popular within the community, recent legal developments show that they may not have as much success as they have support. Borough attorney Michael Herbert has warned local officials that they would risk a violation of the state's municipal contract law if the Borough were to enter in a professional services contract with Princeton Future.

The law states that municipalities may award some contracts without advertising or competitive bidding. However, it also dictates that such agreements be restricted to services provided by professionals who are regulated by the state, including but not exclusive to lawyers, accountants and engineers.

"Princeton Future Inc. does not qualify as a 'professional service' since it is not performing direct services authorized by law in a recognized profession," Herbert wrote in a letter to Borough Administrator Bob Bruschi. Herbert advised that legally, the Borough would be safer "contracting directly with the experts and professionals."

Though members of Princeton Future are professionals in various fields, the group itself is not a regulated professional corporation, according to Herbert.

Ironically, this very fact is one of the major sources of Princeton Future's appeal.

"He who pays the piper calls the tune," noted Borough Councilman Roger Martindell. "If we use professional consultants, we will have lost, as a community, the independent thought of Princeton Future and replaced it with the thought of consultants who play the tune of those they talk to in Borough Hall."

Martindell said he believes hired consultants will act according to an agenda that will not necessarily reflect the agenda of a community-based group.

"Princeton Future is a much broader-based, grass-roots group that has more of a diverse opinion on future planning. They have demonstrated a certain degree of independence from Borough Hall and should be encouraged to continue thinking in this way," he said.

Though the future of Princeton Future remains unclear, the group has not lost enthusiasm.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"In brief, I don't think that Princeton Future is up against a stone wall or that it needs to change its objectives," said former University President Robert Goheen, honorary chair of the group.

"Princeton Future seems largely to have convinced mayor and council that it is not trying to take over their turf, but is only trying to be helpful to them to the end of gaining the sort of development of the downtown that so many residents have now shown they want," Goheen said.

"I think it's wonderful that there is such a strong array of talented individuals that have been volunteering their time," said Princeton Future co-chair Sheldon Sturges. "We are still talking with the lawyers," he said. "Our hope and our intent is to continue working with Princeton Future to determine what will happen downtown over the next few years."