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Speaking: Council Members A. Miller, L. Geevers; Mayor H. Marathe

COUNCIL PRESIDENT MILLER: We have a ceremonial matter. We have the Mayor's State of the Township Address. Mayor Marathe.

COUNCIL MEMBER GEEVERS: And there's plenty of seats up front here, so come on down.

THE MAYOR: You're all like I was in school, never sat in the first row [laughter], no matter what. And I'm deaf and still never sat on the first row. So ... so before I start I'd like to acknowledge two special guests who are here. From Mercer County, Lucylle Walters [sic] who is the Chairwoman of the Mercer County Freeholders, and Diane Gerofsky who is the County Surrogate. And I want to thank the County. County has been good working with.

And my friend Kamal Khanna and previous Council President, and I saw ...

COUNCIL MEMBER GEEVERS: Hemant ... Verlina ...

THE MAYOR: ... Martin Whitfield, School Board Member ...

COUNCIL MEMBER GEEVERS: Hemant ... Hemant ... Verlina just came in ... Assemblywoman Jackson ...

THE MAYOR: Oh, hi, Ms. Jackson. She is the newest appointed member of the New Jersey Assembly. Thank you for ... thank you for coming. And then from the Township we have Chief Garofalo, Lieutenant Lee, and our EMS in charge Jimmy Yates. These are the important people you need to know. You don't need to know the Mayor, you don't need to know the Council [laughter]. These are the people who get the work done. So ... Again, thank you everyone for coming. It's really a humbling experience that there are so many people who are interested in what I have to say. Of course, I have to bribe some of you to come here [laughter].

Sharon Young, our Township Clerk, has reminded me since January 1st, that I need to give this address. As a rookie Mayor, I was always very apprehensive. When I mentioned it to my daughters, they rolled their eyes. They send your dad sympathies. Even though this is my first Township Address, I find myself in a very familiar position—being watched over my shoulder by seven women as I speak [laughter]. At home I have six others, who do the job admirably. Don't worry, I got every word of this speech approved by my wife, my mother, and all my daughters [laughter].

Last November, as I walked door-to-door, I heard a few concerns from citizens, and in return made some specific promises to the residents of West Windsor. As Mayor, I have tried to govern based on those promises.

The first of those promises is to control growth the best I can. Toward that end, we continue to vigorously defend our Township against an unreasonable affordable housing obligation.

The original Fair Share Housing legislation stipulated that in any given round, no Township should be required to build more than thousand units. We have filed a motion with the Court to cap our obligation at thousand, based on that legislation.

We hope and pray the Court will agree with us, as the legislation intended. However, if we don't prevail on that motion, we will be required to submit a plan for the full fifteen hundred units as stipulated by Judge Jacobson. Although we feel that it would be an undue burden on West Windsor, we will comply, while pursuing all available legal avenues.

To help mitigate the negative consequences of the increased housing development, we are pursuing commercial development at all sites, along with the residential. Since the matter's in litigation, and some negotiations are still ongoing, and since our lawyer is sitting here [laughter], I am unfortunately restricted in what I can say today. He's just watching what I can say, but please stay, stay tuned.

To reduce growth, we continue to aggressively purchase open space, and get grants from the County and State to supplement our budget. Since I took office on January 1st, we have closed on 96 acres on North Post Road, have a contract to purchase 17 acres on Clarksville, and are in negotiation to purchase another 123 acres along Village Road. Since January 1st, the Township has received one million, fifty thousand from the County, and will receive another 260,000 dollars pending approval of the grant agreement by the Council.

We'll also receive 500,000 dollars from New Jersey Green Acres pending approval by the Council. And I want to thank again County has been very appreciative and they do send money on time [laughter] which is unusual for government. We will use this money to continue to acquire more properties to preserve open space.

With regard to Howard Hughes's site, there is no change in status. We are currently performing the Master Plan review. As a part of that review process, we will decide if any change from the current zoning of the property is in the best interests of the Township and the developer.

Our second promise was to attract commercial ratables. Toward that end, I have met with owners of all large commercial properties in town, and have had some encouraging discussions with other commercial development experts. Based on the collective feedback, and to make it easier to expand an existing business, or to start a new one, we are undertaking two initiatives, one operational and one procedural.

On the operational level, this year's budget includes funds to move the permitting and inspection process from paper-based to electronic. Every inspector will get a tablet which will improve both efficiency and service, making it quicker and easier for businesses to move through the inspection process.

On the procedural level, I'm recommending to the Council that we replace the Site Plan Review and [sic] Advisory Board, popularly known as SPRAB, with a Technical Review Committee. Many of our neighboring towns use such committee with great success.

Some of you work in private sector may wonder whether replacing a board with a committee will make any difference. However, if you are a developer, you will appreciate how this will significantly reduce expenses and speed up the approval and building process.

I would like to tell all commercial developments—developers—that West Windsor is open for business.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank two long-serving members of SPRAB, Allen Schectel and Ted Begun. Both of them have served the Township for over twenty years in that position. Ted has indicated that he is ready to retire after serving on board the Environmental Commission and SPRAB since 1995. To ensure we don't lose all the experience, I've appointed Allen to the Planning Board.

Finally, I would like to outline two initiatives in the hope of building a sense of community among all West Windsor residents.

Last year, during Council debate, I proposed that we use the Township-owned land near the Municipal Complex to build an indoor sports facility for the residents of West Windsor, since I've heard repeatedly that such a facility is needed. Some people thought I was suggesting it simply because I didn't like what was proposed for that site at that time. But to quote the great philosopher, Dr. Seuss [laughter], "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant."

My first initiative is to build an indoor sports and recreation facility on that tract, if it's determined to be feasible.

I've already spoken to various sports groups, and at least one has expressed an interest in funding such a structure, and at least five others have expressed an interest of using such a facility on a rental basis if it exists. Currently our kids have to go to neighboring towns to use their indoor facilities, and adults compete for available gym—school gym space.

In the coming month, I will appoint a committee with experts in various aspects of the project—sports, finance, architecture, construction—to understand the needs of each sport group, and to determine whether this is financially feasible without using any taxpayer dollars. They will recommend what such a facility would encompass. I would request anyone who is interested in serving on such a committee to contact me.

We are all fortunate to live in a great community. Sometimes, when you're on Facebook, or attend Council meeting, you may not feel that way. But we have a lot to be thankful for.

We have many reasons to celebrate what we don't celebrate enough. This brings me to my second initiative: to annually pick one group or one non-profit in town, and to celebrate them. As someone who drives almost twenty-five thousand a year—twenty-five thousand miles a year, the first people I'm mindful of are the police. I'm always watching out for them [laughter] and they are watching out for me.

This year, the West Windsor Police will celebrate their 50th anniversary. I propose that the community come together to celebrate its success, and raise funds that will be used for the specific project. Police Chief Garofalo has identified the need for a drone that can be used, among other things: to look out for a missing person; to speed up accident investigations; et cetera. He has assured me that the drone will not be used to write tickets [laughter] or—far more important—to spy on me [laughter].

I have appointed a committee, which has been hard at work for the last couple of months, planning celebratory activities throughout the year. The committee is made up of: Missy Pirrera, Simin Syed, Virginia Manzari, Kristy—and I have a hard time pronouncing the last name—Kyriakopoulos—and one of my main criteria for choosing people on—for committees is if I can pronounce your name. So I don't know how Kristy got past that [laughter]. On the Township side, they are being helped by Gay Huber, Ken Jacobs, Noreen Tenaglia, Mark Lee, Melissa Nagy, Daniel Lantham [sic], Danny Mohr, and Chief Garofalo. The committee will soon publish information about how you can help. This is a challenge to all of us, to come together for a common purpose. And I see some of the committee members here, and I want to thank all of you. I hope all of you will actively participate in this celebration, and support our New-Jersey-Chiefs-accredited Police Department.

When they reach out to you during their fund-raising appeals, remember that charitable contributions are still fully tax deductible. This is your opportunity to exercise your government-given right to deduct with abandon. So please be very generous.

I hope this becomes an annual tradition to celebrate our successes, and every year we do this.

When I speak for so long, I always wonder if anybody is listening or paying attention. A few months back, I was reading how a human mind works.

It's said that in the first 24 hours following a speech, most people forget 50 percent of what they have heard. In the next 24 hours, they forget 50 percent of the remaining. So the math wizards among you will tell you that it means you will have retained only 25 percent of what you have heard here today.

At the end of 72 hours, many of you will swear that you weren't even here today [laughter].

So even if you forget everything else I have said today, please remember that the state of our Township depends collectively on all of us. I'll propose some ideas that I believe will move West Windsor in the right direction.

West Windsor has been a perfect place to raise my own family; my kids are out of school now. And I'm asking for your help to make it even a better place, to not only to raise our families, but to grow old with our friends.

Thank you again all for coming. [applause]