By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Township Councilman Bob Bostock, the lone Republican on the Township Council, has decided not to seek a second, four-year term on the municipal governing body.
Mr. Bostock, 53, cited “pressing professional obligations” as the reason for deciding against a bid for re-election. A freelance writer, he is helping a Newark physician write a book about his experiences, and he also is working on a project for the Nixon Library Foundation.
The Nixon Library Foundation project, which is a two-year project, will require visits to California, he said. The book project and the Nixon Library Foundation project come on top of the rest of his workload, he added.
”There is no time to run a decent campaign,” he said. “A campaign takes a lot of time. I just felt I could not do it. It’s all just a question of (having) so many hours in a day. Sometimes, you have to make choices, and this is one of those times.”
Mr. Bostock said having the opportunity to serve Lawrence Township was a great honor, and he always would be grateful the voters gave him a chance to do his part to make the township a better place in which to live, work and raise a family.
Nevertheless, Mr. Bostock said he is pleased he had been able to accomplish two important goals — cleaning up the Dyson Tract on Princeton Pike and revising how the township provided ambulance service so residents would not have to worry about whether they could afford to call an ambulance.
Contaminated dredge spoils from Colonial Lake had been trucked to the Dyson Tract, located on the eastern side of Princeton Pike, near Fackler Road, in 1999. The spoils were dumped on 10 acres of the 189-acre parcel, rendering it unusable.
”I am pleased that both of those goals have been achieved,” Mr. Bostock said. “I identified a source of state funding to cover the majority of the cost to clean up the Dyson Farm. Working with the administration and my council colleagues, we successfully applied for and received more than $2 million from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to fund the cleanup.”
The last dump truck load of contaminated soil was removed from the Lawrence Township-owned property in June. Nearly 60,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed “so that this preserved open space could again be available for public use,” he said.
”I am also pleased that the township has ended the practice where some patients who were residents were charged for ambulance calls (whether or not they had insurance) and others were not,” Mr. Bostock said.
Mr. Bostock said he and former Republican Township Councilman Rick Miller negotiated the purchase of the former Lawrence Township First Aid Squad building from the group’s board of trustees for $1. The building serves as the headquarters for the Lawrence Township Emergency Medical Services.
”By acquiring this building at an estimated savings of $750,000 over the cost of building a new headquarters, we were able to end the outsourcing of our first aid service,” he said. “Today, Lawrence residents are served by a fulltime emergency medical service. Now, no Lawrence resident has to worry that they cannot afford to call an ambulance when they need one.”
The councilman said he was pleased he had helped to hold the line on municipal spending. Over the past three years, he said he had prepared a list of proposed budget cuts and financial enhancements. Each year, the municipal tax rate increase has been less than initially presented.
Mr. Bostock also cited successful efforts to have municipal employees contribute toward the cost of their health insurance premiums. The police officers agreed to contribute 1.5 percent of their salary toward health insurance premiums, while the unions that represent the rest of the municipal employees agreed to contribute 3 percent of the cost of their premiums in 2011 and 2012 and 3.2 percent in 2013.
Although Mr. Bostock has decided not to seek a second term now, he has not ruled out a future bid. He said he believed he had made a difference by serving on the council, and “it’s not a question of not wanting to do it (run for re-election), but of setting priorities.”

