PRINCETON: Three borough residents named to task force

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   Three borough residents were named to the Transition Task Force on Tuesday night.
   Brad Middlekauff, an attorney; Mark Freda, the borough’s former emergency services director; and Hendricks Davis, who has developed affordable communities and has social service experience. Jim Levine,who has human resources experience, was named as an alternate.
   Mayor Yina Moore and Councilwoman Jo Butler will serve as the council representatives to the task force.
   ”The Borough of Princeton is a really lucky place. We had a superb pool of applicants to choose from,” said Council President Barbara Trelstad. “I know the candidates we have chosen are up to the task ahead of them and are willing to commit the extraordinary amount of time that will be needed to complete the transition.”
   With Ms. Trelstad in the lead, Councilwoman Jo Butler and Councilman Kevin Wilkes met over the past week as a subcommittee to discuss the final eight applicants, who were interviewed in public on Jan. 3.
   Members of the Joint Shared Services Consolidation Commission — one member was interviewed — were not considered.
   ”If we did not choose him, we will not loose his expertise because the consolidation commission will continue to exist and participate in the process,” said Ms. Trelstad. “Making that decision allowed us to choose another member of the community who otherwise might not be involved.”
   The subcommittee looked at township selections and tried to balance their selections’ skill sets and neighborhoods.
   All resumes will be submitted to the full task force for consideration.
   ”There’s plenty of work to be done,” said Ms. Trelstad.
   Ms. Trelstad also suggested the task force reach out to CGR for a presentation on the state of things.
   Councilman Roger Martindell voted no for the motion because he said the thinks the process was flawed by the proceedings, where what he calls “a small group of people who met in closed session to select eight.”
   ”There may have been a larger pool that had talented additional people,” said Mr. Martindell. “We didn’t interview anybody employed by Princeton University and I think that was a mistake. I think it shows, unfortunately, a degree of arbitrariness and capriciousness.”
   He also said the borough has lost its ability to select people fairly.
   ”The process was deficient,” he said.
   Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller said Mr. Martindell was casting a pall over the process and he did not participate in the process by offering any input and had agreed to the process that took place.
   ”You delegated and now you are complaining because you didn’t get the people you wanted,” said Ms. Crumiller.
   The process included two closed session meetings in December on the 20th and 28th. The Dec. 28 meeting had an inadvertent Open Public Meetings Act violation due to misunderstanding and the inclusion of the two new members of the council who were to be sworn in days after the meeting and having a vote on the issue.
   Councilwoman Heather Howard said she was proud of everyone who came in and who was selected and “today is a step in keeping Princeton a great place to live.”