Linda Geevers, West Windsor
I submit this letter as an individual member of the West Windsor Council. This letter represents my own views.
A spirit of collaboration and good communication between the West Windsor Council and the mayor were themes that I stressed as we ushered in the New Year. The mayor agreed as these are critical elements for good decision-making.
During the review of the mayor’s proposed capital budget, council expressed its strong disappointment that he did not include enough funding for the re-paving and re-striping of Canal Pointe Boulevard. This road has been plagued with potholes for years. In 2015 the council approved capital funding for this project in the amount of $350,000. This year the mayor proposed $500,000 in capital funding and $900,000 for 2017. The council demanded that this project be totally funded and completed in 2016. It was then that the mayor allowed his administrators to identify the needed funding in existing capital accounts with a more formal process to follow.
With the first issue of identifying funding resolved, the conversation focused on how to stripe the re-paved road along Canal Pointe Boulevard. The debate has been over the so-called Road Diet verses the current four lanes. The Road Diet Study is available for review on our municipal website.
Council encouraged the administration to move forward with developing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for surveying and engineering work. The administration did so, but failed to communicate about their progress. The council only learned that the RFP was released during the March 21 work session on the Road Diet Study. The next day I asked that council receive the RFP and the administration complied. We then discovered that the RFP had in fact been sent out on March 7 and responses were due by 11 a.m. on March 18. That was three days before our work session.
The deliberate withholding of such information is astounding, and contrary to the collaborative approach I had expected. Regardless of our Faulkner Act form of government, there was no reason to withhold critical information from council. Questions regarding the RFP could have been discussed at this work session, rather than during what turned out to be a grueling debate on the night of the April 4 contract vote.
By the mayor’s design, the RFP and the now approved contract allow him to direct the engineering firm on how to proceed with the type of road restriping. The mayor buried the decision on the restriping as his to make within the confines of the contract. This has the brazen feel of a power grab, rather than the collaborative approach he agreed upon. Four days after the council approved the contract the mayor sent us a memo stating that he is moving forward with the Road Diet.
The mayor writes in a letter to the editor that “throughout this process, the professionals and safety experts have continued to call for a reduction in the number of lanes along Canal Pointe Boulevard. Emergency Services has also approved the approach.” I find these comments to be in sharp contrast to the conversations that I have had with the township’s two professional fire chiefs. Are they not considered professionals by the mayor? Or is it just the paid staff that is considered professional? For some reason, the mayor didn’t feel compelled to speak directly with them and is leaving their critical concerns to hopefully be resolved in some future discussion with the consultant, the director of Emergency Services and a council liaison.
Safety is at the top of everyone’s list, and every second of response time matters in an emergency. The mayor did agree at the April 4 business meeting that he would bring the consultant’s work product back to council before releasing an RFP for the construction contract. In his words he will give council “another bite of the apple.”
I thank so many of you who have attended council meetings and contacted us. As the process progresses, please continue to let the mayor and council know your thoughts.
Linda Geevers
West Windsor
