2nd time around for Beuaregard

Committeewoman appointed as mayor for 2005.

By: Josh Appelbaum
   Democrat Becky Beauregard will be Cranbury’s mayor in 2005.
   The Township Committee appointed Ms. Beauregard at Monday’s annual reorganization meeting. It is the second time she has held the post.
   Ms. Beauregard, whose committee term expires at the end of the year, served as mayor in 1993. She had served on the committee from 1990-1996 and returned to the committee in 2003.
   In addition, fellow Democrats Richard Stannard and David Stout were sworn in to their three-year terms on Township Committee.
   Mr. Stout was elected to his first three-year term in November and Mr. Stannard was elected to his second, defeating Republicans Jack Ziegler and Richard Abrams.
   The Democrats hold a 5-0 majority. The lone Republican on the 2004 committee, Michael Mayes, did not seek re-election.
   Ms. Beauregard succeeds Mr. Stannard as mayor. In the township committee form of government, the mayor is chosen by the committee annually. The post has few special powers. The mayor is one of five votes on the committee, runs the meetings as chairman, makes some appointments and sits on the Planning Board.
   In addition to Ms. Beauregard, the committee named Mr. Stannard to the Planning Board.
   Mayor Beauregard asked for help from her colleagues, former mayors Mr. Stannard and Pari Stave, on running her first meeting.
   "It is a pleasure after a decade to be mayor again," she said. "I hope to build a consensus on issues in the community. But since I might be a little rusty on running the meeting, I’m asking for some special help tonight."
   Ms. Beauregard received her bachelor’s degree in government from Indiana University and has done postgraduate work in business and political science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
   She has worked with various federal, state and local government agencies, including the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.
   She also has served as president and vice president of the nonprofit Family and Children’s Services of Central New Jersey and was the executive director of former Gov. Tom Kean’s Maternal and Child Health Project.
   Ms. Beauregard is a part-time consultant for the Population Resource Center, a nonprofit bipartisan group that works to share information on population-related issues affecting foreign and domestic public policies, with offices in Princeton and Washington.
   She also is working to develop a funding plan for the Pearl Merrill Institute for Children, an organization her husband, Jeffrey Merrill, was working to organize at the time of his death in June of 2003.
   Ms. Beauregard has two sons, Nicholas and Jonathan Merrill, and lives on Prospect Street.
   She said she and the township have changed since her first time on committee, but its citizens remain involved with township government.
   "I think in my own life there has been enormous change and growth during the time since I was mayor, and even though the township has changed enormously and has grown, people are more alike than different in the community," Ms. Beauregard said.
   She said her primary goal as mayor in 2005 would be to effectively manage the township’s fiscal affairs and maintain a stable tax rate. In addition to continuing efforts for open space and farmland preservation and addressing new affordable housing regulations, Ms. Beauregard plans to highlight the work done behind the scenes in Cranbury’s government, done by the township staff.
   "Because (the Township Committee) is part time, the committee is only as good as its staff," Ms. Beauregard said. "Much of the work is done by people the town never sees. Personally, I think we need to make citizens more aware of the role the township staff plays in their lives."
   Other township appointments to various boards are in the process of being completed, according to Township Administrator Frederick Carr.