Mayor Pam Mount will reliquish the mayor’s office Sunday after serving a one-year term.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
Sitting at the kitchen table in her farmhouse last week, Mayor Pam Mount spent a few minutes reflecting on her yearlong term as mayor of Lawrence including the environmental successes, redevelopment milestones, administrative changes and disappointments of 2005.
Mayor Mount said in a Dec. 20 interview she is most proud of the grass-roots efforts now under way to make the community more aware of the need to incorporate sound environmental practices into daily living.
She also identified the Brunswick Pike redevelopment project, the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail and the conversion of the Rinck House into a nature center as some of the year’s biggest achievements.
The controversy surrounding the town’s request to convert 35 acres of land in Mercer County Park Northwest into athletic fields was one of the year’s low points, she said, but she remains optimistic that the township and the county can still come to an agreement.
During her second stint as mayor this year, Mayor Mount who served as mayor in 2001 officiated at weddings and took part in ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new businesses. These are the ceremonial duties of a mayor tasks that she will not have to do in 2005 as a member of Township Council.
Those duties will fall to Councilman Michael Powers, who is expected to be selected as mayor by Township Council during Sunday’s reorganization meeting.
Ms. Mount’s term as mayor this year also was marked by the retirement of Municipal Manager William Guhl. He retired June 30, after 13 years as the top administrator in the township. He was replaced by township Director of Finance Richard Krawczun.
"Mr. Krawczun has come on with a wealth of experience and dedication to the township," she said. "He has proven to be a very professional manager."
But this year, Mayor Mount said, the "overarching achievement" of which she is most proud is the initiative to make Lawrence a "sustainable society" which means a community that practices ecologically sound principles.
"It started off with a town meeting in January in a snowstorm at The Lawrenceville School," Mayor Mount said. "At the end of the day, I said, ‘There is so much energy, how about signing up’ (to form a group dedicated to the sustainable society principles). About 75 people signed up."
The township’s effort is based on the book "The Natural Step for Communities," by Sarah James and Torbjorn Lahti. The Natural Step is a grass-roots effort to set up a process that protects the environment, rather than use up resources, Mayor Mount said.
The Natural Step process calls for developing policies and practices that eliminate the community’s dependence on fossil fuel, chemicals and the wasteful use of synthetic substances, Mayor Mount said. The community should not encroach on nature land, water, wildlife, forests, soil and ecosystems.
"It’s about people coming together (to determine) the direction of the town," Mayor Mount said. "With big business and technology, we have lost track of how people are connected."
Mayor Mount is also proud that other long-standing issues moved forward during the year ranging from the Brunswick Pike redevelopment project to the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail and the conversion of the Rinck House, off Drexel Avenue, into a nature center.
"We got the Brunswick Pike redevelopment going again," she said. "It had stalled out a little bit. We have continued to work on the roadway redesign. It took a process to come down to the roundabout (at the intersection of Brunswick Pike and Whitehead Road)."
The roundabout, which is similar to a traffic circle, is intended to slow down or calm traffic. The state Department of Transportation agreed to replace the traffic light at the intersection of Brunswick Pike and Whitehead Road with a roundabout. The roundabout, a redesigned median and new sidewalks could be in place on Brunswick Pike by 2007, Mayor Mount said.
Additional sections of the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail also opened during the year, Mayor Mount said. The trail is a 20-mile-long loop that connects the two townships. The trail can be used by bicyclists and pedestrians.
The township purchased the Rinck House and 9 surrounding acres in 1998 for preservation purposes and the site later became the Lawrence Nature Center. Renovation work on the house has moved along, she said. The garage at the property, which has been remodeled, has been used as the base of activities at the nature center.
The Rinck House is adjacent to the 37-acre Drexel Woods property, which Lawrence Township also purchased in 1998 for permanent open space preservation. The property is heavily wooded.
Mayor Mount also helped to create the History Task Force, which works with Township Historian Robert Immordino to promote the township’s history.
While Mayor Mount is proud of what has been achieved this year, she does regret that a plan to convert 35 acres of land in Mercer County Park Northwest into athletic fields for Lawrence’s use ran into considerable controversy.
At Township Council’s request, former Municipal Manager William Guhl approached Mercer County officials in 2004 to turn over a portion of the county-owned park to Lawrence for use as recreational athletic fields.
But opponents said it would displace farmer Ted Wilk, who has farmed the 35-acre portion of the park on Keefe Road, near the Lawrenceville-Pennington Road intersection. They also claimed it would violate the premise of preserving the land for open space.
Mayor Mount said that because it was proposed in an election year, the plan was "distorted" by politicians. Two seats on Township Council were up for grabs, as were two seats on the Mercer County Board Chosen Freeholders this year.
"I am still optimistic that all parties will come to an agreement on the benefits of having ball fields there," she said. "I am definitely an open-space advocate, and I don’t see any conflict between open space and recreation."
The mayor cited a need for balance between the two goals, preservation of open space and more recreation fields.
"You have to take into consideration the health of all youths," she said. "We should never get to the point to deny a child access to recreation opportunities because of a lack of facilities."
But looking back on this year, Mayor Mount said she appreciated all of the effort put forth by township employees and the volunteers who serve on the advisory boards and committees. It is difficult to be in a leadership role if no one wants to help, she added.