Third police lieutenant may be added
By: David Campbell
The Princeton Borough Council is expected to hold a public hearing tonight on an ordinance that would extend a program that allows on-street permit parking for Princeton High School students.
Also tonight, Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi is expected to present the latest findings in an ongoing review of staffing within the Princeton Borough Police Department. The administrator is expected to recommend the creation of a third lieutenant position to handle administrative duties.
The parking ordinance designates borough streets near the school that are available for parking by students with permits.
The Princeton Township Committee has a companion measure in place for township streets near the high school. Township Administrator James Pascale said Monday that he and township Mayor Phyllis Marchand have met with Superintendent of Schools Judy Wilson to review the current parking regulations in the township.
He said Ms. Wilson has asked the township to continue with the regulations unchanged for another year while the district completes construction at the high school, a request he said the township has granted. He said the township program will be revisited again next June.
The borough ordinance would remove a sunset clause put in place by the Borough Council when the program was first implemented last year, meaning it will remain in place from here on out. No such clause exists in the companion ordinance in the township.
The school district originally requested 90 permits but was granted 60. Later, 10 more were added. The borough and township have agreed to grant 10 more permits each, which will bring the number up to the 90 the district originally sought.
Officials said the increased number of permits can be easily accommodated because Guyot Avenue, one side of which is available for permit parking, was not used by students last school year, and because students park more tightly than first anticipated in 17- to 18-foot rather than 22-foot spaces.
Anne Burns, president of the Princeton Regional Board of Education, said she plans to attend tonight’s meeting and said she hopes the council will approve the ordinance making the program permanent.
Councilwoman Wendy Benchley, who serves on the Ad Hoc Committee for High School Parking, said Monday she hopes the council will approve the ordinance, and said there is consensus that the program should be reviewed again after another year.
The council introduced the ordinance at its June 28 meeting. At introduction, neighbors said the permit system is an improvement over the way things used to be when students were constantly moving their cars to remain legally parked in two-hour spaces, and said it has alleviated problems of trash in the street, confrontations with students, and unsafe driving.
The borough issues the permits to the school board at a cost of $10 per permit, and the school then uses a lottery system to decide who receives permits. Students who live in close proximity to the school are excluded from the lottery. Under the ordinance, violators are subject to a $50 fine with additional fines and penalties possible for repeat offenders.
In other business tonight, Mr. Bruschi is expected to recommend the council authorize the creation of a third lieutenant position within the police department, thereby raising the number of administrative officers including the police chief’s position to four.
In a July 20 memorandum to the mayor and council, Mr. Bruschi said the report from which the recommendation stems is the first part of a two-part review of staffing in the department. He said the recommended new lieutenant would assume duties formerly handled by the captain, a position that the council eliminated earlier this year due to budgetary concerns. The captain’s duties are now shared by the department’s two lieutenants.
Mr. Bruschi said in his memo the decision on whether to create a fourth administrative slot should not come down to funding alone, but that the successful operation of the department is also at issue.
"The need to provide for the various services and the workload and supervision is fundamental to the success of the overall department operation," the memo said.
Mr. Bruschi said in his memo that a third lieutenant also would provide for continuity of leadership in the coming years. He noted that both of the current lieutenants as well as the chief have the option to retire in the next two years if they wish.
"I believe that one of the major challenges that we will face over the next several years is cueing up the future leaders of the department and giving them enough time in leadership roles to be able to lead the department when their time comes," the memo said. "For this reason alone I believe there is justification for the additional lieutenant position."
The memo said the establishment of the new position will cause the promotion of a sergeant to lieutenant and of a patrol officer to sergeant. The hiring of an additional patrol officer is already in the early stages, the memo said.
Mr. Bruschi’s memo added that "nothing has been found within the report issued about the township police department operations which should cause concern to the council about this recommendation."
That report, which was released last month by consultant Carroll Buracker, recommended seven fewer staff positions, reducing the township police department from 45 full-time personnel, 35 of whom are sworn officers, to 38.