Metuchen Mayor Thomas Vahalla outlines plans to develop the Pearl Street parking lot in the borough during the third part of the Meet the Mayors series hosted by the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce. PHOTOS BY KATHY CHANG/STAFF Before 1900, Metuchen was part of Raritan Township — now known as Edison — until it broke away that year.
And 113 years later, Metuchen Mayor Thomas Vahalla resoundingly told those who attended the Meet the Mayors four-part series hosted by the Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce that the borough is not coming back.
Vahalla’s statement brought laughter from the audience, which convened for the session held at the Rutgers Visitor Center in Piscataway on June 18. Edison Mayor Antonia Ricigliano quipped that the town, which is completely surrounded by Edison Township, is fine with Metuchen not coming back.
“The two Princetons [Princeton Borough and Princeton Township] that merged had the good fortune of the same name. But if we merged, what would they call us — ‘Medison,’ ” Ricigliano joked.
Metuchen Mayor Thomas Vahalla and Edison Mayor Antonia Ricigliano answer questions from the audience. The series focuses on economic development and partnership opportunities to improve communities.
Vahalla and Ricigliano joined Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler and Highland Park Mayor Gary Minkoff for the third of the fourpart series.
Each mayor discussed the economic outlook of their towns, which saw a common theme of challenges — the continuation of doing more with less, and the need for more and more shared services.
“In 2006, we had 215 police officers; now, we have 163 officers,” Ricigliano said. “We hired 10 firefighters in December 2012, which brings the department to 124 paid members, including the chief.”
These reductions in numbers, Ricigliano said, are happening in the midst of a growing township.
“We are the fifth-largest township in the state,” she said, noting that they have a population of just over 100,000. “Town Hall is down 650 people. When they say we are all doing more with less, we truly are.”
The mayors stressed the importance of volunteers.
“Metuchen would not survive without our volunteers,” Vahalla said. “Our Junebug Art- Fest is entirely run by volunteers. … The taxpayers are not paying for it. We allow the use of Borough Hall, but that is it.”
He added that their fire department is a volunteer squad.
“The chief, I believe, gets a stipend of $600 to $700 a year,” he said.
Ricigliano agreed that volunteers are essential to moving towns forward.
“We cannot repay them for their hours of devotion to their communities,” she said. “We need volunteers because money is tight and we have to hold the line on taxes.”
Hard decisions are made when doing more with less.
Vahalla said Metuchen had a transit bus that cost the borough $80,000 a year. Due to the state’s 2 percent cap on spending increases, borough officials had to weigh keeping the transit bus or laying off police officers.
“The bus is nice, but it had to go,” he said.
Vahalla said Metuchen implemented a new single-stream recycling program last year that saves the borough money and allows the Department of Public Works employees time to do other jobs.
Vahalla said they had to make a decision to spend about $500,000 to buy a new fire truck for their volunteer fire department.
“These trucks last 20 to 25 years; ours is 43 years old,” he said. “These are the issues that we are wrestling with.”
Edison and Metuchen have a great deal of shared services. For example, John F. Kennedy Medical Center’s ambulance service in Edison began answering Metuchen’s 911 calls last year.
“It’s the only way we can keep services,” Vahalla said.