Police Staffing Sparks Questions about Collaboration

Despite publically pledging to work together in the months leading up to the consolidation of Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, an issue has arisen that shows collaboration may be easier said than done.

The issue became public on Tuesday when Borough Council Member Roger Martindell blasted what he called a Township proposal to promote a police officer to acting police chief just months before the two towns are set to merge.

“The present proposal by Township Committee to promote a Township Policeman to ‘Acting Chief’ is another unfortunate step in what appears to be the Township’s increasingly strident effort to attempt to influence the choice of employees for the new Princeton based not on merit but on parochial concerns: namely, whether the candidate is a present or former ‘Borough’ or “’Township’ employee,” Martindell said.

He did not identify the police officer in question, but Township Police Lt. Chris Morgan has been acting as head of the department since former Township Police Chief Robert Buchanan retired last month.

But Township Mayor Chad Goerner called Martindell’s allegations are “pure nonsense” that “amount to nothing more than irrelevant blather.”

Goerner said it all started after Township Police officials raised a concern that merging the two departments would result in a new department staffed entirely by former Borough personnel at the command level and may give the perception that Borough Police had taken over the Township Police. 

Goerner said he and Township Deputy Mayor Liz Lempert shared the concern with Borough Mayor Yina Moore and Borough Council Chairwoman Barbara Trelsdad during a meeting between the four officials to discuss issues facing both municipalities.

“At that meeting, Ms. Moore and Ms. Trelsdad agreed with the concerns,” Goerner said.

He said said they all agreed to present the concern to the Transition Task Force Public Safety Subcommittee for suggestions and possible solutions.

On April 23, Lempert emailed her three colleagues a draft memo, asking for their input before she sent the memo to the subcommittee. One possible solution, she wrote, was for the Township to promote its current officer in charge to Acting Chief so that one Township officer would be part of the higher leadership structure of the new department.

Goerner said Lempert received no response to that email. 

On April 27, Moore sent a letter to Goerner and Township Committee requesting that the Township not interfere with the work of the Transition Task Force, which would decide police leadership based on experience, performance, disciplinary record and seniority. Moore cc'd the Mercer County Proscecutor's Office.

“Any attempts to arbitrarily promote staff, absent meeting all of these criteria, would be a subversion of the process, indefensible in court, and a disservice to our citizens,” Moore wrote in part. “We are adverse to putting our joint selection process at risk for mere territorial suggestions of fear in what your memo describes as a potential for 'takeover.'"

The Township’s agenda to influence employee decisions began about a month ago, according to Martindell.

That’s when it asked members of the Transition Task Force to sign a “conflicts policy" that Martindell believes specifically targeted Mark Freda, chairman of the Transition Task Force and a former Borough employee. That document would bar Freda from seeking position in the new municipality, Martindell said.

He said this latest move by Township officials to choose employees based on town affiliation is “a retrograde, parochial and corrupt way of conducting the public’s business.”

On Tuesday, Goerner said Moore’s April 27 letter was factually inaccurate, assuming that the Township was considering actively promoting people and raising their salaries.

“We expressed a concern in an effort to collaborate with our colleagues on Borough Council and they responded in a way that’s devoid of any fact or merit,” he said.

He called Martindell’s response political grandstanding.

“Mr. Martindell's comments were just pure speculative nonsense,” Goerner said. “It was really unfortunate blather from a Borough Council candidate who hasn't made any effort to collaborate and instead writes three-page statements to baselessly grandstand. I hope that his wild surmise will not become contagious to the rest of Borough Council as it will certainly not help our efforts to work together.”

Goerner has prepared a response to Moore's letter, noting that while Township officials hoped for collaboration, the Borough and Township "are two separate and independent municipal bodies and will remain so until midnight on 31 Dec 2012. Princeton Township Committee will take whatever actions it deems to be necessary to protect the welfare, lives and public safety of Princeton Township residents."

Borough Council Member Jenny Crummiller said the issue should be discussed at the next joint Borough and Township meeting. 

Council Member Jo Butler agreed and said the Transition Task Force is working hard to present a plan for a unified Princeton. 

"I would hate to see these issues muddy the water when we have a lasting oopportunity for real progress in the community," she said.