Ordinance Would Extend Twp. Mayor's Term to 2 Years

The agenda for this evening’s (Oct. 18) Lawrence Township Council meeting – to be held at the municipal building at 7 p.m. – is available in the media box to the right or by clicking here. A memo about the meeting from Township Manager Richard Krawczun is also available from the media box or by clicking here.

Perhaps the most interesting item on tonight’s agenda is the introduction of an ordinance which, if approved by council at a subsequent meeting, would amend the Lawrence Township administrative code to change the office of mayor from having a one-year term to a term lasting two years.

“Ordinance 7-A amends the Lawrence Township Administrative Code and eliminates the annual reorganization of the Township Council in non-election years. Reorganization will be limited to Jan. 1 following each election of councilmembers. At the reorganization the council will continue to elect one member as mayor. In sum, the councilmember would hold the position of mayor for two years,” Krawczun explains in his memo.

Also on the agenda are five ordinances slated to be adopted by council tonight. The five ordinances were all introduced at the last council meeting on Oct. 4.   

One of those ordinances concerns funding for the emergency road repairs that were made to . Township council actually adopted the ordinance at its meeting on Sept. 20, but the ordinance needed to be reauthorized because a local newspaper failed to publish a required legal ad after the ordinance was first introduced at the .

Two of the other ordinances expected to be adopted tonight will create the new position of “armed court attendant” who will provide security to the municipal court. The hiring of this person will free up the uniformed police officer who normally is assigned to provide security to the court for 20 or more hours each week.

The new armed court attendant, who will be under the supervision of the township police chief, must be certified by the state to carry a firearm and meet other specific qualifications. The new employee – who could possibly turn out to be a retired police officer – will be paid $22 per hour during 2011, $22.59 during 2012 and $23.16 during 2013.

Another of the ordinances on the agenda to be adopted tonight will raise the township’s dog license fees – going from $10 to $11 for a neutered or spayed dog, and from $13 to $14 for a non-neutered or non-spayed dog. This follows the .

The final ordinance to be adopted tonight concerns payments to the township from several residents who took part in the township’s sidewalk improvement program.

The public will be given an opportunity to speak about each of the five ordinances prior to council members voting whether or not to adopt them. 

Oct. 4 Council Meeting Notes

In addition to the introduction of the five ordinances noted above, the Oct. 4 council meeting featured more debate about the new road markings painted on Bergen Street (); additional discussion about the (listen to the first 14 minutes of Part 2 of the Oct. 4 meeting audio from the media box above for that latest mold discussion); and an explanation about why the township cannot allow pink ribbons to be displayed on the pillars of the municipal building in support of Breast Cancer Awareness (discussion begins at the 24:30 mark of meeting audio Part 2).

Also during the Oct. 4 meeting, Krawczun noted that he and Township Attorney Michael Herbert W. Herbert had met with real estate developer John Simone and Simone’s attorney in an attempt to negotiate a settlement to Simone’s appeal of fees charged to him by the township as part of his failed bid to obtain a zoning variance that would have allowed an inpatient drug and alcohol detox facility in a building he owns on Federal City Road.  

An agreement could not be reached and the matter is being referred to the Mercer County Construction Board of Appeals, Krawczun reported. The contested fees amount to $18,325.67, according to township officials.

A bid in the amount of $180,243 was also awarded to Bucks County International Inc. of Langhorne, Pa., during the Oct. 4 meeting for the purchase of a tandem dump truck with snow plow and sanding equipment that will be used by the township’s Department of Public Works.

The Oct. 4 also featured a moment of silence held in memory of township Environmental Resource Commitee member , and a presentation by council to Rider University thanking the university for the use of its facilities as an emergency shelter that housed 364 people and 26 pets during Hurricane Irene.