From ‘Washington’ to ‘Robbinsville’?

Petition to change township name filed; issue could be on November ballot

By: Rebecca Weltmann
   WASHINGTON — After two years of standing outside for eight hours a day and catching registered voters at school plays, township meetings and other community events for signatures, Lewis Koushel said he is elated that his petition is finally filed.
   Mr. Koushel, of Windham Place, filed a petition Monday with almost 1,500 signatures to add a ballot question for November that would change the name of the township from Washington to Robbinsville. He filed the petition Monday morning with Township Clerk Michelle Auletta, who said the next step now is to validate the signatures.
   "I have a certain amount of time to make sure that the people who signed are registered to vote," she said. "The petition needs to have at least 1,046 valid signatures in order to be put before the Township Council. Once I validate the signatures, it goes to the council for resolution and then if they pass the resolution, it goes to the county clerk for printing on the November ballot."
   Mr. Koushel, who has lived in Washington Township for close to seven years, said he has been anxiously awaiting the day when he sees Robbinsville Township on police badges and township stationery.
   "You just can’t imagine how much I’ve prayed for this day to come," he said. "I’m happy and delighted that this phase is over."
   If the Township Council approves the resolution changing the name to Robbinsville Township and voters approve the November ballot question, the name change would take effect immediately, Ms. Auletta said. The physical results, however, she said could potentially take a little longer.
   "We need time to make the change on things like police badges, squad cars and township bank accounts," she said.
   The changes would not be costly for the taxpayers, Mayor Dave Fried has said previously. According to the mayor, the township typically purchases a new letterhead every year anyway, and the average span of a township police car is about three years.
   Over a course of the next three years, the logos on the cars would change. Aside from the decals for the police cars and letterhead, other things that would have to change would be the signs around the township and patches with the new name on uniforms for township employees.
   An actual financial implication for the name change has yet to be determined, Ms. Auletta said. Part of that study includes talking to other towns in the state that have recently gone through changes, such as Dover which recently switched to Toms River.
   "I’m very supportive of the petition and the name change," Mayor Fried said. "I know a lot of people have put work into this and I think it’s a very good thing for the town. We have a lot of people who already say they’re from Robbinsville, so I think we can do a much better job of trying to identify ourselves on a map."
   And for example, he said, coming off I-95 at Exit 7-A is a sign for Washington Township. Once off the ramp, the sign allows people to either go to the right to Asbury Park or to the left for Robbinsville. Not having the sign identifying Washington is an added confusion when already there are six Washington Townships in the state.
   In December 2002, the Township Committee sent a resolution to the state Department of Transportation requesting the exit sign to be changed back to Robbinsville as it read until 1999. That request was denied.
   This is the second time that the issue of changing the township’s name has come up. In 2002, voters saw a nonbinding question on their ballot asking them whether they would vote yes or not to a name change. At that vote, 62 percent of voters approved that referendum, but because the vote was not legally binding, the voter opinion simply went on file, Ms. Auletta said.
   Though Mr. Koushel is delighted that the petition is finally filed, he said he knows there is still a wait for his final answer.
   "I went above and beyond and got almost 25 percent more signatures on the petition than were needed," he said. "I’m playing it safe. This name change is something that needs to happen."
   "My hope is that once we work on the name change, we’ll work on the new ZIP code," Mayor Fried added. "This is the first step. The more ways we have to identify ourselves, the better off we’ll be."
   Mr. Koushel said his next goal is to have the township ZIP codes changed in an effort to ease mail delivery problems complicated by the township’s shared ZIP code (08691) with Trenton. Several streets in Washington Township share names with streets in Trenton, such as Union Street, and causes problems with mail delivery.