The thirty-eight-year-old has been on Township Council since 2004.
By: Lea Kahn
Ask Michael Powers to sum up his year as mayor of Lawrence Township, and he will respond with one word community.
Creating a sense of community has been Mayor Powers’ goal from the day he took the position on New Year’s Day, 362 days ago.
"There is a great sense of community in Lawrence, and I wanted to build on it," said the 38-year-old Mayor Powers, whose one-year term as mayor ends at the stroke of midnight Dec. 31.
Early in his term, the mayor said, that community-building effort paid off when the township’s Human Relations Committee teamed up with Rider University to sponsor Diversity Day this past April. Township residents were treated to demonstrations of Hawaiian, Irish, Indian and Chinese dancing. They also sampled Italian and Indian food.
Mayor Powers also orchestrated the Dog Days of Summer, held in July at Village Park, off Bergen Street. The event brought dogs and their owners out in the air, allowing them to spend time together and meet other dogs and their owners.
The mayor also helped to link Rider University with Lawrenceville Main Street, the volunteer organization working for the continued revitalization of the business district of the village of Lawrenceville.
"You see all of these different groups and organizations, many with the same goals and objectives, and you try to bring them together," Mayor Powers said. "You can act as a facilitator (as mayor). When you can get two groups together, that is personally satisfying."
Mayor Powers took Township Council into the community, holding two meetings at the Lawrence Road and Lawrenceville fire companies so neighborhood residents could discuss their concerns. The council would make occasional forays into the community, but had not held meetings outside of the Municipal Building for several years, he said.
"It is important to reach out," Mayor Powers said. "I reached out to Phil Meara, the new school superintendent. With (former Superintendent) Max Riley, there was less collaboration. But with Mr. Meara, there will be more opportunities for collaboration with the schools."
Township Council and the Lawrence Township Board of Education met this year to share information on their respective budgets, the mayor said. School district and township officials also are looking into ways to share their resources, he added.
But there have been other accomplishments as well during his year as mayor, he said.
With the acquisition of the 43-acre Loveless Tract, off Eggerts Crossing Road, Lawrence has achieved its goal of preserving 25 percent of the township for open space preservation, Mayor Powers said.
Township officials also have turned their attention to the issue of in-fill housing and McMansions, houses built that are far larger than already existing dwellings within certain neighborhoods, Mayor Powers said. The township wants to control the construction of larger houses built on small, vacant lots so the new houses do not overpower the existing houses, in terms of square footage and architectural design, he said.
Township officials began to deal with the proposed relocation of Capital Health Systems’ Mercer Campus hospital to Princess Road, as well as the proposed redevelopment of the Quaker Bridge Mall on Brunswick Pike.
"I worked with Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer to state our (joint) opposition to relocating the hospital to Lawrence," Mayor Powers said. "CHS knows, in their heart of hearts, that Princess Road is not suited for a hospital. When you look at the site, I don’t think it’s a good fit for our township."
Mayor Powers said he was more optimistic about the proposed redevelopment and expansion of the Quaker Bridge Mall. The regional shopping mall was built in the 1970s and is in need of some refreshing, he said.
Mayor Powers said he was pleased to have worked with Hopewell Township Mayor Vanessa Sandom to convince Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes of the need for more athletic fields for young athletes.
Earlier this year, Mercer County awarded a grant to the two townships and Hopewell and Pennington boroughs to purchase the Twin Pines Airport in Hopewell Township to create additional ball fields.
Serving as mayor was an "intellectually stimulating" experience, he said, and one that taught him the importance of time management skills. He tried to balance his duties as mayor with family obligations and his job as an attorney with Pharmanet, a pharmaceutical company based in West Windsor Township.
"I thought I knew a lot about what happened in Lawrence, but I quickly realized there are so many groups and organizations out there many of which I was not aware of and they all want the mayor to come to their event or activity," he said.
"I met people I would not otherwise meet, if I had not been the mayor," he added.
The elimination of the deputy mayor’s post a move made by Township Council several years ago made it more difficult for him to balance his time, he said. The deputy mayor would fill in for the mayor, but without that cushion, the mayor has had to handle requests to appear at ceremonial events such as ribbon cuttings.
"I tried to leave weekends to my family for family time," said Mayor Powers, who is married and has 2½-year-old twin sons. "The mayor serves on the Planning Board, so that is two more nights out a month (in addition to the twice-monthly Township Council meetings)."
What made the job manageable, he said, was knowing he had one year to devote and focus on being mayor. Then, it will be up to the next mayor to take on the responsibilities that come with the role, he said.
"I will miss those daily phone calls to (Municipal Manager) Richard Krawczun, but the next mayor will have that pleasure," Mayor Powers said. "I’m looking forward to being just a councilman. Overall, I think this was a good year."

