Trelstad named to Council

Barbara Trelstad was selected as the new Borough Council member Tuesday night, filling the vacancy that was created when Council president Mildred Trotman replaced the late Joseph O'Neill as major.

The Council chose Trelstad over Anne Neumann in a 3-2 vote. Former front-runner Kevin Wilkes '83 was disqualified Monday due to a technicality in residence requirements set by a state law.

Because of the disqualification, Borough attorney Michael Herbert informed the Council that they could either choose from between the two remaining nominees or request renominations from the Borough Democratic Committee. Mayor Trotman chose to continue with the selection proceedings.

Trelstad has resided in the Borough since 1981, has four sons, and serves on several local bodies, including the Princeton Environmental Committee and Sustainable Princeton. She has also campaigned for Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J).

Trelstad will serve until Jan. 1, when an identical nomination process will again choose a Council member to serve until the end of seat's term in November 2006.

The nominees faced an hour of questioning from Council members in a public meeting Tuesday evening. Issues ranged from transportation to proposals for eliciting more funding from the University. Both candidates expressed similar views on many issues, including affordable housing.

Trelstad stated that affordable housing is a vital part of a community, and that giving a cash supplement to neighboring communities to build those units out of town is socially irresponsible.

Both candidates stressed they would look to increase the monetary contribution the University makes to the Borough.

Trelstad said the University is "internationally known [and] instantly recognizable," and thus has an obligation to pay its fair share, adding "they can and should do more."

Her plan is to evaluate the current budget situation with respect to the University, and then develop a more formal method for requesting contributions on an annual basis. "I would like to review the past history and to compare us to other university towns," Trelstad said.

After the council meeting, University Director of Community and State Affairs Pam Hersh passed around a statement in rebuttal which stated that the University paid $3.05 million in taxes last year, and made a total contribution to the Borough equivalent to 17 percent of the Borough's tax revenue this year.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian after her selection, Trelstad commented briefly on eating clubs and the recent friction between the clubs and the Borough on the issue of underage drinking. She said she was unfamiliar with the specifics but that "any town that has a lot of young, energetic people will have that problem [with authorities]."

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Speaking on other local issues, Trelstad said she was in favor of traffic reduction measures such as increasing bike routes and encouraging people to run errands more efficiently. She also supported dialogue with other municipalities because "traffic is really a regional issue."

Wilkes' disqualification

The Council meeting began with a discussion of Wilkes' disqualification, which resulted from a state law requiring an elected member of a body to have resided in the area he represents for at least 365 days before he takes a seat on a council.

Though Wilkes has lived in Princeton for many years, he moved to Montgomery Township for one year and returned to the Borough in July.

Current council member Andrew Koontz criticized the law, saying that it was clearly intended to prevent carpetbagging, but that because of it, a candidate with strong qualities and experience has been disqualified.

The law was deemed unconstitutional by a state judge when specifically applied to the case of an Atlantic City resident, but Herbert said it did not apply to Wilkes because the overruled case involved a ward rather than a municipality, and the resident in question had still retained property in his old ward.

"Clearly I'm disappointed, but state statute is state statute," Wilkes said. "I will try to continue doing good things for the town."

Wilkes had been highly recommended for the position and would have been the only University graduate in local government.