Officials to be sworn in, professional contractors and members of boards to be approved, at Princeton reorganization meeting Monday (updated)

The governing body for the municipality of Princeton will hold its first public meeting of the year on Monday, Jan. 4, at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Congresswoman Bonnie Watson-Coleman will administer the oath of office to Princeton’s new mayor, Mark Freda.

Judge Phillip Carchman will administer the oath of office to Councilman David Cohen, who will be serving his second three-year term on the governing body.

Councilman Dwaine Williamson will administer the oath to Leticia Fraga, who will serve her second three-year term on the council.

Sources say that behind the scenes, the council members decided that Fraga will serve as the council president for 2021.

Public governing body meetings for 2021 after the reorganization meeting will be held on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. instead of Mondays. Agenda sessions will now be public. Past practice was to have only a few members of the governing body attend agenda sessions and avoid a quorum. A quorum would have meant the agenda session had to be open to the public. Agenda sessions are on the same day as the council meetings and are slated for 11 a.m. on Tuesdays. Officials told Planet Princeton on Monday that the agenda session will be to review the agendas for the meeting that will take place the following week. Other municipalities and the county freeholders hold their agenda sessions at night, when more members of the public are likely to be able to attend.

Closed sessions for the governing body are scheduled for other days for the 2021 calendar. The practice began after the pandemic. According to lawyers who are experts in the state’s Sunshine Law that Planet Princeton has consulted with, public bodies in New Jersey that hold closed sessions via Zoom or other video conferencing tools must still start such closed sessions in public and then move to go into closed session. They also must return to an open session to end the meeting and must vote in public if they have decided to take any formal action. Governing bodies must list on closed session agendas the specific items they plan to discuss.

Professional contracts

The governing body is slated to approve several professional contracts. Trishka Cecil of Mason, Griffin & Pierson will be the municipal attorney again for 2021 and will be paid a retainer of $152,400, plus an additional $175 per hour for legal work beyond basic services. Karen Cayci will be paid up to $20,000 as the lawyer for the zoning board.

Kimberly Lacken will serve as the municipal prosecutor for 2021, with a salary not to exceed $70,000. Michael Barrett will be paid up to $57,500 to be the town’s public defender. Harry Haushalter will be paid up to $80,000 to be the town’s special property tax lawyer.

Greg Sandusky will be paid up to $7,500 for land and surveying consulting services. Storm Water Management Consulting will be paid up to $30,000 for stormwater management consulting services. Daniel Dobromilsky & Associates will be paid up to $25,000 for landscape consulting services related to the review of land development applications. French and Parrello Associates will be paid up to $20,000 for on-call engineering services. Ostergaard Acoustical Associates will be paid up to $5,000 for performing acoustical engineering reviews of development applications. Bruce Eisenstein will be paid up to $10,000 for consulting regarding telecommunications policies, cellular service, and antenna systems. McMahon Associates will be paid up to $25,000 for traffic engineering consulting.

McManimon, Scotland & Baumann will be paid up to $100,000 to serve as the town’s bond counsel related to redevelopment, environmental, litigation, and other services.

Doctor Dhwani Shah will be paid up to $28,000 to be a consultant for Corner House.

Governing body committee assignments:

Mayor Mark Freda will serve on the following committees:
Administrator Search
IT
Economic Development

Councilman David Cohen will serve on the following committees, commissions, and boards:
Code Ordinance Codification, chair
Finance
Infrastructure and Operations
IT
Planning and Redevelopment
Traffic Safety
Transit Trust Fund
Historic Preservation Committee
Local Emergency Planning
Pedestrian and Bike Advisory Committee
Planning Board
Central Jersey Forum
Friends of Herrontown Woods Liaison
Permit Parking Task Force

Councilwoman Leticia Fraga will serve on the following boards, commissions, and committees:
Legal
Personnel
Public Safety, Chair
Police Commissioner
Administrator Search
Board of Health
Civil Rights Commission
Economic Development Committee
Human Services Commission
Local Emergency Planning Committee
Youth Advisory Committee
Permit Parking Task Force

Councilwoman Eve Niedergang will serve on the following boards, commissions, and committees:
Communications
Governance
Infrastructure and Operations
Personnel, Chair
Public Safety
Traffic Safety
Administrator Search
Princeton University Negotiations Team
Animal Control Advisory Committee
Environmental Commission
Library Board of Trustees
Local Emergency Planning Committee
Sewer Operating Committee
Senior Center Liaison
Transit Trust Fund

Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros will serve on the following boards, commissions, and committees:
Code Ordinance Codification
Communications
Finance, Chair
Governance
Planning and Redevelopment
Public Safety
Fire Commissioner
Princeton University PILOT Negotiations Team
Economic Development Committee
Permit Parking Task Force
Princeton Merchants Assoc. Liaison
Public Arts Committee
Shade Tree Commission
Transit Trust Fund

Councilwoman Mia Sacks will serve on the following boards, commissions, and committees:
Code Ordinance Codification
Communications
Finance
Governance
Infrastructure & Operations, Chair
IT
Legal, Chair
Personnel
Planning & Redevelopment
Traffic Safety
Princeton University PILOT Negotiations Team
Planning Board
Public Transit Advisory Committee
School Board Liaison
Sustainable Princeton Liaison
Friends of Herrontown Woods Liaison

Councilman Dwaine Williamson will serve on the following committees, commissions, and boards:
Legal
Affordable Housing Board
Corner House Board
Housing Authority Board
Princeton Alcohol Drug Alliance
Recreation Board
Mayor Mark Freda
Administrator Search
IT
Economic Development

Following are the 2021 community appointees for various municipal committees, boards, and commissions:

Affordable Housing Board
Carol Golden (Alternate 1) 3 year 1/1/2024
Kate Warren 3 year 1/1/2024
Matthew Mleczko 3 year 1/1/2022*
Lex Kochman 3 year 1/1/2024

Animal Control Advisory Committee
Dr. Laura Kahn 3 year 1/1/2024

Bicycle Advisory Committee
Laura Harmon 3 year 1/1/2024
Amanda Arshan 3 year 1/1/2024

Board of Health
JoAnn Hill 3 year 1/1/2024
Mona Shah 3 year 1/1/2024
Kathleen Stillo (Alternate 1) 3 year 1/1/2024

Parks and Recreation
Andrew Koontz 5 year 1/1/2025
Lesley Germaine 5 year 1/1/2025
Mia Cahill, (Alternate 1) 5 year 1/1/2025
Darius Young 5 year 1/1/2026

Civil Rights Commission
Anastasia Mann 3 year 1/1/2024
Howard Levy (replaces Jean Durbin) 3 year 1/1/2023*
Fern Spruill 3 year 1/1/2024
Lewis Maltby 3 year 1/1/2024
Sean Miller (Alternate 1) 1 year 1/1/2022

Construction Board of Appeals
Thomas White 4 year 1/1/2025
Larry Logan 4 year 1/1/2025

Economic Development Committee
Helena May (replaces Jacqueline Fay) 2 year 1/1/2022*
Dina Shaw 2 year 1/1/2023

Environmental Commission
Tammy Sands 3 year 1/1/2024
Harrison Watson (Alternate 1) 3 year 1/1/2024
Carolyn Healey (Alternate 2) 3 year 1/1/2024

Historic Preservation Commission
Freda Howard (Alternate 2) 2 year 1/1/2022*
(replaces Brenna Campbell)
Julie Capozzoli 4 year 1/1/2025
Shirley Satterfield 4 year 1/1/2025
Thomas White 4 year 1/1/2025
Brenna Campbell 4 year 1/1/2025
Kerri DiSanzo (Alternate 1) 2 year 1/1/2023

Human Services Commission
Veronica Olivares Weber 3 year 1/1/2024
Monique Jones 3 year 1/1/2024
Bryan Hill 3 year 1/1/2024
Jorge Narvaez (Alternate 1) 1 year 1/1/2022
Loydes Nieves (Alternate 2) 1 year 1/1/2022

Library Board of Trustees
Edward Felten 5 year 1/1/2026

Planning Board
Louise Wilson 4 year 1/1/2025
Alvin McGowen 4 year 1/1/2025
Owen O’Donnell (Alternate 1)2 year 1/1/2023

Public Transit Committee
Christopher Ieva 3 year 1/1/2024
Pradeep Vachani 3 year 1/1/2024
Jessica Wilson 3 year 1/1/2024

Sewer Operating Committee
Valerie Haynes 3 year 1/1/2024

Shade Tree Commission
Sandra Chen (Alternate 2) 5 year 1/1/2026

Zoning Board of Adjustment
Eve Coulson 4 year 1/1/2025
Stephen Schreiber 4 year 1/1/2025
Bernice Chen (Alternate 1) 2 year 1/1/2023
George Stein (Alternate 2) 2 year 1/1/2023

Flood Committee
Silvia Debenedetti 1 year 1/1/2022
Louise Wilson 2 year 1/1/2023
Scott Sillars 2 year 1/1/2023
Barbara Vadnais 3 year 1/1/2024
Daniel Van Abs 3 year 1/1/2024

Editor’s note: A previous edition of this story stated that agenda sessions will be the same day as regular council sessions. While the agenda sessions will be the same day, the agenda sessions will be a review of the following week’s council agenda.