Victoria Hurley-Schubert

By: centraljersey.com
A last minute deal that fell apart led to a split of the Borough Council at Sunday’s reorganization meeting and led to tough decisions for Mayor Mildred Trotman – selecting the next council president and confirming appointments.
Councilmen David Goldfarb and Kevin Wilkes were each nominated to become council president, and had Mr. Wilkes relinquished his seat on the finance committee, he would have had unanimous support for council president.
The deal was to have Mr. Wilkes step off the finance committee to allow Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller on.
"I totally confirm that was the deal that was laid out," said Mr. Wilkes, who said it was a last-minute appeal from Mr. Goldfarb before proceedings began on Sunday. "I had been approached by Mrs. Butler with this request prior; it had come up the week before."
For Mr. Goldfarb, it wasn’t about the council presidency, it was about the finance committee.
"Being council president isn’t a burning desire of mine. I would have gladly served and I appreciated Jenny and Jo (Butler’s) support. I wanted to leverage that support to get Jenny on the finance committee," said Mr. Goldfarb, who has never served as council president. "The three of us would have voted to support Kevin if he allowed Jenny onto the finance committee. His refusal precipitated the two 3-3 votes with Mayor Trotman breaking the tie."
Mr. Wilkes has only been on the finance committee for the past year.
"I see my work on the finance committee as being critical to managing the budget," he said. "My support of a zero increase for our property tax revenues for the past two years has been very important to me and I want to continue."
But instead, the all-Democratic council evenly divided in support for each man, forcing Mayor Trotman to take action and select Mr. Wilkes as council president.
"It’s about supporting Princeton, and as far as I’m concerned, they are equally qualified," said Mayor Trotman on Sunday. "This is a difficult decision. I would look forward to working with either gentleman. I think I will throw my support behind Mr. Wilkes."
To break the tie Maeve Cannon, borough attorney, said, "if the council fails to select a president, then mayor shall then select a president." Mayor Trotman selected Mr. Wilkes as council president. Under the borough’s form of government, the mayor only votes in the event of a council tie.
"It would have been nice to have 100 percent support," said Mr. Wilkes. "I felt my work with Roger (Martindell) and David on the finance committee has borne success and I want to continue that."
"It’s been hard work to get the borough budget under control, and David has demonstrated superb leadership on this issue," added Mr. Wilkes. "I feel the effectiveness of the team of the finance committee has been critical."
To help repair the split among his council members, "I’m going to have to work with all colleagues with the same vigor and commitment," said Mr. Wilkes. "I don’t see this as any rupture that will interrupt the borough’s business."
For Mr. Goldfarb, the council presidency wasn’t the goal.
"I’m more disappointed that Kevin wasn’t willing to let Jenny go onto the finance committee (instead of being disappointed over losing the council presidency)," said Mr. Goldfarb. "That would have been a reasonable accommodation on his part."
At Sunday’s public meeting, Mr. Goldfarb recommended Ms. Crumiller to serve on the finance committee instead of Mr. Wilkes, speaking of her establishment and work on the Citizens Finance Advisory Task Force, which looks at the borough’s finances, and her leadership in the Princeton Community Democratic Organization. On Monday, Mr. Goldfarb clarified that Ms. Crumiller had run her campaign on finance issues and had been very involved with financial oversight as a founding member of the independent task force and she had not yet been given the opportunity to have a key position on a committee.
"I was hoping to be on the finance committee, and David was hoping for that, too, and I think there was a split, and that’s all there is to it," said Ms. Crumiller. "We were hoping I could take a spot on the finance committee, but I can’t so I’m looking forward to working on the committees I do have."
Mayor Trotman designated Ms. Crumiller for the Shade Tree Commission and cable television committees.
"I’ve been looking to take a more active role in finances and I’ll continue that with the Citizen’s Finance Advisory Task Force," added Ms. Crumiller.
Mayor Trotman did not return calls for comment by press time Monday.
Mr. Goldfarb’s issue with the delegation of committee assignments, was that Mr. Wilkes would have three key roles, as council president, chair of public safety and a member of the finance committee.
"We’re blessed to live in a community where we have a great deal of expertise and many people willing to share it," said Mr. Goldfarb. "We work best when we share the burden, and mayor, you have nominated Kevin Wilkes, who if the nominations are confirmed would be chair of the public safety committee, council president and a member of the finance committee. Jenny Crumiller, on the other hand, would have two relatively minor appointments as liaisons to committees of the borough. I will vote against your nominations, mayor, not because of my lack of regard for Kevin. I think Kevin has done a very good job on the finance committee and I appreciate what he has done over the years; I believe however, that it’s important that all members of council get one of the important positions."
Mr. Wilkes defended himself with history in an interview on Monday. "I don’t see this (three key positions) without precedent," he said. "The previous president before Andrew Koontz had similar assignments of council president, police commissioner and finance committee member, so I don’t feel this action was without precedent."
The "important" positions are on the finance, public safety, public works and personnel committees.
Mr. Goldfarb sits on three of the "important" committees as chair of the Finance Committee, fire commissioner of the Public Safety Committee, and as a member of the public works committee.
Each council member was appointed to the "important positions" except Jenny Crumiller. Newcomer Jo Butler was appointed to the personnel committee. Roger Martindell was appointed to the finance committee and the personnel committee. Barbara Trelstad was appointed chair of the public works committee. Mayor Trotman appointed herself to the public safety, public works and personnel committees.
"I look at all of our committees as equally important," said Mayor Trotman. "When I made these appointments, it was not to slight anyone. These appointments I picked for a reason and at this particular time, I’m not going to change the appointments I made," said Mayor Trotman. She mentioned that she may change appointments later in the year.
"I feel very comfortable with the workload," added Mr. Wilkes.
The council tied again in its vote, and Mayor Trotman voted to approve all of her many appointments.
Prior to his selection for council president, Mr. Wilkes has served on the council since 2008, when he was appointed to fill an unexpired term following the resignation of Wendy Benchley in March 2008. He was elected to Borough Council to serve a one-year term in 2009. He successfully ran again in 2009, and will serve a full three-year term on council until 2013.
Mr. Goldfarb had been Mayor Trotmans’ running mate for many years. He was appointed to the council in 1990 when then-Councilman Marvin Reed stepped down to become mayor following the death of Mayor Barbara Sigmund. Mr. Goldfarb won election to serve the remainder of Mayor Reed’s term in 1991. He has served continuously since then.
The position of council president is chosen annually from among the council members.
"As your council president, my goal for the New Year is to work with you, my Borough Council colleagues, mayor and all Princetonians, to advocate for the sustainable prosperity of our commercial sector and the preservation of the social fabric of each of our many, historic neighborhoods," said Mr. Wilkes. "Sustainable prosperity calls for the organized and purposeful planning for jobs and for commercial opportunities and, in the right spirit, for the collection of revenues to advance and improve our town. Preserving our social fabric guarantees that the interests of all of our diverse residents will be considered in the right spirit. A spirit that is egalitarian and results in a true, fair-minded collaboration."
Mr. Wilkes also spoke about working with Princeton Township and Princeton University.
"Our fates are inextricably linked. The narrow interest of one of these should not crowd out the common interest of all three," he said, "We should plan and invest in our future growth in the right spirit."
President Woodrow Wilson defined the "right spirit" for Mr. Wilkes during his run for governor 100 years ago. "It is first of all necessary that we should act in the right spirit. And the right spirit is not a spirit of hostility. ‘We shall not act either justly or wisely if we attack established interests as public enemies,’" said Mr. Wilkes, as he quoted from one of President Wilson’s speeches.
The council also did not see eye-to-eye with the re-appointment of Reed Gusciora, assemblyman in the 15th district, which includes Princeton Borough, as municipal prosecutor.
"It’s a situation where the conflicts are obvious and rampant," said Mr. Goldfarb, objecting to the appointment.
Citing examples of potential conflicts such as the prosecutor’s relationship with the police department and that police compensation can be determined by actions of the Legislature and the dependency of elected officials, such as Mr. Gusciora, on police union support during campaigns.
Mr. Goldfarb also said that municipal court judges act in a system where the Legislature sets the rules. "The Legislature has a lot to do with how justice is administered in the State of New Jersey," he said.
"I understand my point of view is not shared by my colleagues on the council, but can we agree that if our task to avoid the appearance of impropriety, that this might be improper. It is improper in from my point of view, let me make that perfectly clear," he said. "I would hope that at least we would recognize that it appears to be improper and vote against it for that reason alone."
Mr. Goldfarb could not sway the others, who voted for approval.
"Neither the Legislature or any governing body has indicated that there’s a conflict that prohibits us from continuing the service of a very able lawyer who lives in our town and knows the town very well," said Mr. Martindell.
With the one dissent, Mr. Gusciora was appointed for a one-year term. He will be paid $37,200. He was initially appointed to serve as prosecutor in March 2010.
Mr. Gusciora is also prosecutor in Hopewell Borough and Lawrence Township.
The council will meet for its first regular meeting of the year tonight, Tuesday, and begin the municipal budget process with a presentation by the borough administrator.