By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
The relationship between the Princeton Borough Council and Princeton Township Committee is becoming strained over several issues, the most recent being comments made by Councilman Roger Martindell at this week’s council meeting.
The draft of a joint memo to the Transition Task Force Public Safety Committee addressed a concern over a possible and perceived imbalance in the new consolidated department.
”Using the presumed flowchart and the existing command structure of the two police departments, the top leadership of the new department would be comprised exclusively of borough personnel to the total exclusion of township personnel,” wrote Borough Mayor Yina Moore, Council President Barbara Trelstad, Township Mayor Chad Goerner and Township Deputy Mayor Liz Lempert in a draft memo obtained by the Packet. “Specifically, the chief and captain positions would be borough personnel (Chief David Dudeck and Capt. Nick Sutter), and the two senior lieutenants would also be borough personnel (Lt. Sharon Papp and Lt. Bob Currier). This is potentially problematic because it appears, if only in perception, to be a takeover of one police department by the other.”
The township police chief left the department earlier this year and the township elected not to fill the position. The department is being overseen by the two highest ranking officers, who are both lieutenants.
The borough has a chief and a captain.
According to the proposed organizational chart for the new department, a chief and a captain would be the head of the new department. Lieutenants would fall under those positions.
The four elected officials offered a possible solution in the draft of the memo for the subcommittee’s consideration promotion of the current officer in charge of the township, Lt. Chris Morgan, to acting chief so he could be part of the higher leadership structure of the new department.
Mayor Moore’s response to the draft of the memo objected to such a move.
She said it suggests a desire to assert a township claim to the selection of a new chief of police for the new Princeton.
She wrote on April 27, “Any attempts to arbitrarily elevate or promote staff … would be a subversion of the process, indefensible in court and a disservice to our citizens.”
In a response to her letter shared with the Packet, Mayor Goerner reinforced the point that the idea was in a draft memo approved by Mayor Moore herself.
”Your letter was both devoid of circumstance, inflammatory and unwarranted. We are assuming that this letter was sent solely under your hand and that it was not approved by Borough Council,” he wrote in a letter dated May 2. “As you know, the ‘letter’ you refer to from myself and Deputy Mayor Liz Lempert was not a formal letter at all. It was a draft memorandum that we (you, Ms. Trelstad, Liz Lempert and me) agreed to review, edit, co-sign and forward on to the Transition Task Force Public Safety Subcommittee.”
The township mayor also pointed out that there was nothing specific suggested in the draft memo, no promotion offered or any money discussed.
Councilman Roger Martindell addressed the issue at the May 1 Borough Council meeting, calling it cronyism, corruption and the township trying to pre-select people for employment in the new Princeton and citing flaws in their personnel.
”Proceeding as the township proposes places a higher value on cronyism than merit, sending the wrong message to other officers in both departments and to the taxpayers they serve,” said Mr. Martindell. “Given the township’s management of its last three police chiefs, each of whom “retired’ in questionable circumstances, this latest proposal smells of a scandal brewing.”
”The township and its most recent police chief have separated ways, with the township paying Mr. Buchanan not to show up for the balance of this year in circumstances that raises serious questions about the competency and integrity of the township administration of its police,” said Mr. Martindell.
Sgt. Michael Cifelli, the township police public information officer, said he could not comment on personnel issues and referred all inquires to the mayor’s office.
On Wednesday, [cki: : ]township police said Mr. Martindell’s were the first they had heard of the issue and it had not been discussed within their department.
”I have strong objections to that proposal, some of which I don’t feel comfortable sharing in public because of the sensitivity of the issue,” said Mr. Martindell, thanking Mayor Moore for her response to the draft memo.
The Township Committee has not addressed the issue; the purpose of the draft memo was to get the Public Safety Subcommittee’s thoughts on the matter before the governing body discussed the concept.
”We expressed a concern (about the management of the department) that had arisen from the (township) police department,” said Mayor Goerner. “It was a draft, everyone agreed it was a draft.”
”The present proposal by Township Committee to promote a township policeman to ‘acting chief’ is another unfortunate step in what appears to be the township’s increasingly strident effort to attempt to influence the choice of employees for the new Princeton based not on merit but on parochial concerns: namely, whether the candidate is a present or former ‘borough’ or ‘township’ employee,” said Mr. Martindell.
One sentence in the memo offers the suggestion of the idea of an acting chief, but spelled out that they were open to any idea from the Public Safety Subcommittee.
Mayor Goerner said Mr. Martindell was grandstanding instead of working with township officials.
”Roger’s comments were completely off base and pure nonsense,” he said. “It sounded more like comments coming from someone that has no interest in collaborating but has an interest in grandstanding for personal political gain.”
”This is unfortunate blather from a candidate in the death throws of the final months of his last term,” said Mayor Goerner. “My hope is that the nonsense he is spewing does not spread to other members of Borough Council.”
The Public Safety Subcommittee’s next meeting is May 4 and it is unclear if they would discuss the issue, although the agenda did address staffing.

