Transition Task Force hires 2 companies to advise merge

The Transition Task Force met with the councils of Princeton Township and Princeton Borough on Monday night to discuss hiring outside consultants to facilitate the merger of the municipalities. The TTF also heard a presentation from a representative of the Center for Government Research.

The TTF unanimously approved two professional service agreements that will hire companies to advise the consolidation. The task force hired WPCS International Incorporated, a wireless communications firm, to assess the Borough and Township Police Department’s communication centers and determine which equipment can be reused once the two departments merge.

Additionally, it also tasked the Rodgers Group LLC with guiding the soon-to-be-consolidated police department through necessary accreditation processes. The group will ensure that general orders, rules and regulations for the future department are clearly established.

Next, Center for Government Research Vice President and Director of Public Finance Joseph Stefko gave a presentation about the TTF’s role in consolidation. He explained how the task force will be organized and what it should aim to accomplish in the coming months before consolidation in January.

Stefko focused on the importance of subcommittees throughout the consolidation process, giving a broad overview of each specific one within the TTF. He also emphasized that the TTF is not responsible for reinventing consolidation plans but rather for ensuring their proper implementation.

Members of the two councils and the TTF then discussed the presentation. Rifts immediately emerged between those who believe the TTF has room to pursue new ideas and those who feel that the TTF is intended to be more of a guiding force.

Borough Councilman Roger Martindell began the debate by bringing up concerns about the TTF’s limited scope. He urged the task force to use consolidation as a chance to “take something other than a cookie-cutter approach,” warning against the temptation to just “preserve the status quo.”

“Consolidation comes only once in maybe a lifetime,” Martindell said. “There are political and governmental opportunities that cannot be ignored.”

Stefko responded by cautioning the TTF to draw distinctions between implementing consolidation and completely reimagining the plan for consolidation. He acknowledged that there is room for new ideas within reason but urged the TTF to let the future government of consolidated Princeton deal with much of the more complicated and big-picture changes that might be proposed.

Township Committeeman Bernie Miller agreed, noting that “the scope of the task force is to facilitate transition.” He warned that the TTF should not pursue grand ideas for consolidation but rather remain focused on the more concrete, urgent tasks at hand.

The debate ultimately ended without consensus. The questions over the direction and purpose of the TTF frustrated task force member Jim Levine, who said that the task force must have a clearly defined scope of work in order to accomplish consolidation in the short time before its intended implementation in January.