Borough Council seeks to resolve differences in public sessions
By Nick Norlen
Staff Writer
Over the last several months, disputes between Princeton Borough and Princeton Township about issues like library parking and sewer connection fees have found their way into the public domain.
Princeton Borough Council decided Tuesday to formalize the pursuit of municipal solutions in public.
Rather than discussing the matters during their scheduled closed session, the council voted 4-2 to attempt to schedule public meetings — preferably with the township — to reconcile the issues.
But Borough Administrator Bob Bruschi said that might not be so easy.
”All things being equal, if we could get everybody in the same room to have discussions, that would be great, but it appears to be a very difficult thing for us to accomplish,” he said.
The initial motion not to discuss the issues in closed session was made by Borough Councilman David Goldfarb.
”In both cases, all the facts are known. It’s not a question of township versus borough. This is something that we should cooperate with the township on resolving in a way that’s fair,” he said. “I think we would be better off spending our time discussing these issues directly with the township in public than in negotiating behind closed doors.”
At the meeting, Mr. Bruschi said he supported the strategy suggested by Mr. Goldfarb, but said Thursday that he isn’t sure what will happen next.
”I haven’t figured that one out yet,” he said.
He said the likely next step will be “outlining the issues to the council in the form of a memorandum” and inviting the Township Committee to attend a joint meeting.
”We should be having these discussions with the township face to face,” he said. “It’s going to be a different process than we’ve ever taken before.”
However, history has shown that scheduling such a meeting may prove difficult, he said.
”That discussion will probably be somewhat different if we have a joint meeting or if the Borough Council opts to discuss the topics among themselves,” he said.
Either way, the issues should be discussed publicly, Mr. Goldfarb said.
”The problem is that working behind doors hasn’t been productive,” he said. “And I think if the township knows — because everybody will have heard what we had to say, what our position is — it actually makes it easier.”