Kevin Wilkes comes with a ‘highly recommended’ rating
By: Marjorie Censer
The Princeton Democratic Municipal Committee nominated Anne Waldron Neumann, Barbara Trelstad and Kevin Wilkes for the empty Princeton Borough Council seat Monday night and particularly singled out Mr. Wilkes, highly recommending him.
The three nominated candidates were the only ones to submit their names to the 20-member committee, said Andrew Koontz, chair of the committee and a borough councilman.
"I can accurately say that they were impressed with the qualifications of all the candidates," Mr. Koontz said of the committee. "But I think that their actions speak for themselves."
The committee had conducted the same process last month, when it nominated David Goldfarb, Mark Salzman and Mildred Trotman for the mayoral position left vacant by the Oct. 21 death of Mayor Joseph O’Neill. The committee chose then, as well, to give "highly recommended" status to one person in that case, Ms. Trotman.
When Mayor Trotman was installed earlier this month, her recently won council seat became vacant opening the door for a new member. One of the three nominees forwarded by the committee will be appointed to the seat at either the council’s Nov. 29 or Dec. 6 meeting. Both occur within the 15-day deadline imposed by state law.
The new council member will serve until November 2006, when there will be an election for the remaining two years in the unexpired term. That November 2006 election will include two unexpired terms that of the mayor and the council seat as well as two expiring terms.
Mr. Wilkes, a Maclean Street resident, is an architect with Wilson & Kluck Architects and the Princeton Design Guild. He recently helped found the Princeton Parks Alliance, worked on Writers Block last year and is a member of the Witherspoon Street Corridor Study advisory group of Princeton Future. He attended Princeton University as an undergraduate.
Ms. Neumann sought the council seat vacated by Mayor O’Neill in 2004 but lost in the primary to Mr. Koontz and Roger Martindell. An Alexander Street resident, she holds a doctorate in English literature and has taught at The Arts Council of Princeton and the Princeton Adult School. She serves on the Site Plan Review Advisory Board of the Regional Planning Board of Princeton, the Princeton Environmental Commission and the Community-Based Neighborhood Retail Initiative of Princeton Future.
Ms. Trelstad, a resident of the borough for nearly 25 years, is a member of the Princeton Environmental Commission. She also has served on the borough Shade Tree Commission and the Site Plan Review Advisory Board.
The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the Borough Council.
Though the group has made its suggestion, it "recognizes that council can make up its own mind," Mr. Koontz said.

