Council passes library parking allowance

Vic Fedorov of Laurel Road said that locally elected officials regularly violate the 10th amendment to the United States Constitution “by doing what state and federal legislators should do.”

Fedorov explained, without mentioning specific Princeton examples, that the public is not sufficiently notified of lawsuits, construction projects or meetings and cited quorum laws in New England as an example of proper procedure during his five minutes of allotted time during the public presentation portion of the meeting.

Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman asked Fedorov to submit his notes to the Borough Clerk, explaining that the notes would be reviewed and that an administrator would decide whether the issue was of enough importance to discuss at a future council meeting.

The council also discussed the ongoing matter of the three Borough Police officers under investigation for improper use of video recordings. The three have been suspended, but two still remain on the Borough’s payroll.

Councilman Roger Martindell asked for an update on the matter, and Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi said that the Borough was still waiting for the “remainder of the transcripts from the grand jury” in the case of one of the officers.

Another officer has been indicted, and the third was required to attend an administrative hearing.

Martindell said the taxpayers should not have to continue to pay the officers while they are waiting. He said he wanted to know what was taking the prosecutor’s office so long.

Trotman agreed to invite a representative from the prosecutor’s office to a future meeting to discuss the matter.

The council also passed a resolution to support a year-end crackdown on drunk driving.

The resolution follows after last month’s discussion of the 20 percent decline in the number of driving while intoxicated (DWI) citations issued by the Borough Police from January to mid-November over the same time period last year.

The council also approved budget measures to add nearly $20,000 to the drunk driving enforcement budget, $4,000 to the state-sponsored “Click It or Ticket” initiative to enforce seatbelt laws and more than $10,000 to the Alcohol Education Rehabilitation Enforcement Fund.

The council also passed a resolution for parking subsidization in the Spring Street garage for Princeton Public Library patrons.

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Under the agreement, the Township and the Borough will provide 85 free parking spaces for up to two hours at a time. The arrangement will go into effect on Jan. 1.

Trotman also announced a special joint meeting of the Township and Borough that will be held on Dec. 15.

A tax assessor and a representative from Appraisal Systems will be present at that meeting to answer questions about the upcoming municipal tax revaluations. The meeting will be open to the public.