Borough and Township councils approve budget

The TTF also heard a brief public presentation, received reports from various subcommittees and reviewed its policy on potential conflicts of interest.

Roy James, deputy chief of the Princeton Fire Department, began the meeting with a brief speech regarding the recent piece of World Trade Center steel transported to the Borough from New York City last month.

He asked for continued local government support toward the completion of a memorial, adding that the Borough and Township should accomplish this task “before it becomes a memory.”

Scott Sillars, a member of the TTF finance subcommittee, followed with a report on the TTF’s total budget, which amounted to about $140,000. The Borough and Township will allocate $40,000 for the salaries of attorneys, $60,000 for the work of outside consultants, $27,500 for the evaluation of current Borough and Township facilities by an architecture firm and roughly $13,000 for other “catch-all” costs that might arise.

Both the Borough and Township councils passed the TTF budget unanimously.

In the next segment of the meeting, Mark Freda of the Public Safety Subcommittee said that his group is currently working with Borough and Township police departments to create the Borough-Township consolidated police department, and will ultimately end up “shaping future policing powers and effect staffing … going forward.” Freda also is coordinating with the University Department of Public Safety, which will not be enveloped into the new department but will nonetheless be affected by the changes.

Hendricks Davis then spoke representing the Boards, Commissions and Committees Subcommittee. While lauding the “great citizen participation” of the Princeton community, he said his job stretched beyond “just counting numbers.”

Next, Borough and Township Councils discussed the proposed Cross Training Shared Services Agreement between the two municipalities. The agreement would formalize a working relationship between Township and Borough staffs during the consolidation process.

Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi told councilmembers that “it’s a simple agreement” that should be passed in order to signal both Borough and Township workers that they are supported by their governing bodies. Both the Borough and the Township unanimously passed the agreement.

Lastly, the TTF discussed a policy to prevent potential conflicts of interest, which will be voted on in a future meeting.

Township attorney Edwin Schmierer explained the need for the policy, noting that the TTF would use existing ethics guidelines as a framework for its policy. He told council members that the plan would closely follow state law as precedent.

Borough Councilman Roger Martindell said he was worried that the Borough did not have enough time to review the policy. He said that the Borough should take more time before voting on the ethics law to ensure that the council is aware of any possible risk for Borough employees before “we cram it down their throats.”

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Township Mayor Chad Goerner said that while postponing the vote is acceptable, the policy should be passed in the near future to preserve the integrity of the TTF and its mission.