By Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — The Borough Council has put the brakes on a proposal that would reduce the number of required meetings of the ever-increasingly controversial Economic Development Committee.
The ordinance — which the council voted 4-2 against introducing March 2 — would have changed the committee’s bylaws so that it would only be required to meet “as needed.” The current ordinance governing the committee calls for the group to meet once a month.
Despite the once-a-
month meeting directive, the committee has not actually met since Oct 1. Its last meeting before that was held July 2.
EDC member Mike Vanderbeck argued in favor of changing the bylaws at the March 2 meeting, saying the committee could not accomplish anything because the council had not accepted many of its recommendations.
“All of our ideas were shot right down,” said Mr. Vanderbeck, a former councilman.
At least one of those ideas he referred to was likely the EDC’s opposition to an ordinance that would, among other things, allow the owner of the former rug mill property on Bank Street to pay the borough $350,000 instead of a previous requirement of renovating the nearby municipal building. The council initially rejected that ordinance but approved it in October.
Ironically, it was former EDC chairman and now-
Councilman Jeff Bond who helped that pass on a 4-2 vote. At the Feb. 2 regular Borough Council meeting, Mr. Vanderbeck requested that the commission only be required to meet on an as needed basis.
The minutes of that meeting read that Mr. Vanderbeck had said the EDC had “morphed into the Downtown Hightstown group… What the EDC had been addressing is now pretty much completely taken care of under that approach. The energy has shifted to that group.”
However, that assertion was disputed March 2 by Downtown Hightstown director Ryan Rosenberg. Mr. Rosenberg, a former councilman, said the Downtown Hightstown group had not taken over the responsibilities of the EDC.
“If the members of this group are going to come in here and argue not to meet, then they are not the right people to be on that committee,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “We need people who are self-motivated, that will look for economic opportunities.”
Mr. Rosenberg said he believes there are people in Hightstown who would be interested in serving on the EDC if they were appointed. The appointments to the group are made by the mayor, with the advice and consent of the council.
The EDC has three new members — Dylan Ross, Ashley Hutchinson and Vicki Hayes — and a vacancy. It does not currently have a chairperson because it has not met in 2009 to reorganize.
The panel was created by Mayor Bob Patten in 2005 to study matters related to business development and make recommendations to the Borough Council. In November 2008, EDC Chairman Bill Gilmore requested that council expand the group from seven members to nine at a time when it only had four members. The expansion was never made.
Councilwoman Isabelle McGinty said March 2 that she wants the committee to meet soon, select a chairperson, and have that person come to the council and explain why the group no longer needs to meet monthly before the council changes the bylaws.
“Isn’t this premature when the present members have yet to even meet?” she asked the council. “Let them pick a chairperson to come and say that there is nothing economically important in this town to talk about once a month.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Gilmore said the group had not met and would not meet unless the council charged it with a specific task. He added that several EDC members have been attending Downtown Hightstown meetings.
“It doesn’t make sense to meet when there is nothing on our plate,” Mr. Gilmore said.
Councilmen Larry Quattrone, Dave Schneider and Walter Sikorski joined Ms. McGinty in voting against the ordinance’s introduction.
“They could go 12 months without meeting,” Mr. Quattrone said, if the rules were changed. “There are new members and they could be ready to go, but haven’t been able to get together and meet.”
Councilmen Bond and Mike Theokas — both former EDC members before being elected to the Borough Council — argued for the proposed change and voted in favor of introducing the ordinance. Mr. Theokas serves as the council’s liaison to the group.
Mr. Theokas said the council was “arguing over semantics,” and Mr. Bond said those who were opposing it were “making a mountain out of a molehill.”
Mr. Theokas said the change would not prevent the group from meeting once a month, and could lead to it meeting more often.
“It gives the members the freedom and flexibility to meet as things come up,” he said. “The EDC still can meet and will meet, just not once a month.”
Both councilmen said many of the members of the EDC are also on other committees, and that the borough often has trouble finding volunteers to serve on committees.
Ms. McGinty suggested that the council make a strong effort to recruit some new people for the committee, and said the current economic conditions might make more people interested in serving.
