Borough Council to Interview Consolidation Transition Team Candidates Tonight

The Princeton Borough Council has scheduled a special session for 5 p.m. to interview candidates for the transition team that will help the two Princetons prepare for the merger of the towns that will take place Jan. 1 of 2013. The meeting tonight will be followed by a closed session at 7 p.m. and the Borough’s annual reorganization meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Thirty people applied to the borough to be on the transition team. Residents also applied to the township to be on the transition team. Some residents applied to both the borough and the township because from the instructions about applying it was unclear to them that they should apply in the municipality they live in.

The applicants who applied to the borough to be on the transition team are:

Alexi Assmus
Dorothy Berkhout
Jo Butler
Hendricks Davis
Mark Freda
John Heilner
Georg Huellstrunk
Jill Jachera
Adrienne Kreipke
Anton Lahnston
James Levine
Roger Martindell
Shirley Meeker
W. Bradford Middlekauff
Paul L. Ominsky
Alexandra Radbil
Marvin Reed
Paul Rorem
Michele Ryan
Anne St. Mauro
Ruth Sayer
Roger Shatzkin
Scott Sillars
Patrick Simon
Alice K. Small
Jan R. Weinberg
Charlotte (Treby) M. Williams
Richard C. Woodbridge
Carolyn N. Ainslie
Bruce M. Topolosky

It is still not clear what role the transition team will play. Consolidation Commission Chairman Anton Lahnston has urged the governing bodies of the two Princetons to move forward with a separate transition team, with as many residents involved in the process as possible. But some officials have said they fear a new team that includes residents would bog the process down. They argue it would take to long to get residents up to speed, taking momentum away from the work already in progress when the towns already have the consolidation commission in place.

But other officials like Township Committeeman Bernie Miller have argued that the separate transition team should be formed, particularly since it was previously announced and the governing bodies both requested resumes from prospective members.