West Windsor, NJ 2019 State of the Township Address, April 29, 2019

[Beginning at 1:10 into the video]

MAYOR MARATHE:

Thank you all for coming. I don't like making speeches. So I tried to keep this address a low-key affair. I guess some of you found out anyway. And I know some of you are bright.

When I came to this country in 1984, Ronald Reagan was President, Mr. Stanley Perrine was Mayor of West Windsor, and I had a full head of hair [laughter]. For the next ten years, I move to various cities and states before finally settling down in West Windsor in 1994.

As I got involved in local issues, one thing I found most impressive is how the Township is run by volunteers. From the Affordable Housing Committee to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, a lot of work gets done by volunteers. Every year, in January, we attend the annual Volunteer Firefighters Dinner. At the dinner, my wife, every year, reminds me that these are the people who do real work. You, as Mayor, only talk.

Today, it's my great pleasure to recognize one such individual who has worked quietly to leave his mark on West Windsor. In 1980, a young man came to then-Mayor Carol Beske to check whether he could get sewer service for his own house. Like all good politicians, the Mayor requested the young man to look into the possibility.

For the next 38 years, Bob Bartolini worked diligently at the task. He has worked as West Windsor's sole representative to the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority.

During this time, he has served in various capacities: as Chairman of the Construction Committee, Vice Chair of Authority, and in the Chair of Authority from February 18, 1997, until his retirement last year on December 31, 2018. And I didn't want to deal with sewer. So, trust me, I tried to bribe him.

Everyone in West Windsor who has public sewer system can thank Bob for his selfless service for the past 38 years, and at least 10 years before that in various other capacities. It is no exaggeration to state that Bob Bartolini is one of the few individuals who has been responsible for West Windsor sewer system since the Township's founding in 1797.

Bob, I would like to thank you on behalf of all the Mayors, Council Members, and residents of West Windsor for an amazing job you have done for the Township. Many residents of West Windsor may not know your name, but almost everyone is touched by the work you have done.

I have a proclamation to honor your great service to the Township. [applause] It says all the things that you did for the last fifty years, and to keep it to one page we had to cut out more than half of them. Trust me. But thank you very much.

MR. BARTOLINI:

First, I came to this Township in 1968, and I had black hair [laughter]. And my family moved in here, I moved in here with my wife, Janice, and our oldest daughter, Jill, who's here, and over the years—this is my children and my grandchildren, all here—and my son-in-law, and actually, one girlfriend of one of the grandsons, I have, besides Jill—who worked in this building for one summer—Ellen and Robin worked in and managed the Lick-It ice cream store, for those of you that remember it, over there where the PNC bank now is. So we've been embedded in this Township for all these years. But the one last thing I just want to say is, volunteers are really important. You said it exactly. We moved in, we were young, was looking for, to volunteer to do some civic duty, and that was in 1970. So, 50 years later, I thought it was time to retire. Thank you for all of this. And by the way I want to thank everybody in the Township who is now here, and who—I tried to think of names going back, and I decided it wasn't even worth it, because if I found out, the list would be too long—but a lot of them are in the audience here. I thank all of you. And keep this place what it is. It's a wonderful Shangri-La. Thank you. [applause]

MAYOR MARATHE:

Yeah, I had to wake you up over the weekend to find out who the Mayor was when he was appointed.

Before retiring, Bob was gracious enough to train his replacement on the Authority, and I hope the gentleman works long enough so future Mayors don't have to think about sewer again.

But let's Bob's experience be lesson to everyone. Never approach the Mayor with a problem, unless you're willing to spend next 38 years working on it [laughter].

On a more serious note, I would like to thank all volunteers who make West Windsor a great place to live.

Those include the Township-appointed committees, plus those who serve in various other bodies, such as the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, the Friends of West Windsor Open Space, the Arts Council, the Farmer's Market, and many others.

As I sat down to write this speech over the weekend, I had hundreds of ideas I wanted to talk about. However, when Council President Miller found out about the speech, she called me over the weekend with a compliment. Alison said she likes my brevity [laughter]. That was a nice way of telling me shut up quickly [laughter].

So, first, a quick recap of last year—and I'll oblige her, because she controls the gavel.

As promised, we settled with the Fair Share Housing Center on our affordable housing obligation, without requiring any housing on Howard Hughes's property.

Our compliance hearing with Judge Jacobson is scheduled for next week, and we fully expect our plan to pass. The Court also dismissed three out of five counts of the Howard Hughes's lawsuit against us. We will aggressively defend against the remaining two counts.

We continue our aggressive purchase of open space. In particular, we condemned and purchased the Hall Farm along Village Road, which prevented over 400 townhouses from being built on the property.

With Council's help, and they were very helpful, we also fashioned an Affordable Housing Plan to prevent an entire development of about 500 homes from being built.

We'll continue our approach of purchasing available open space to minimize housing development. This will also protect the environment, and provide for future recreational needs of West Windsor residents.

This year, we have upgraded our Permitting and Inspection Department to a new computer system. Within the next few months, you will be able to apply for and review your permit status online. That's one of the most often complaints I get. The department continues to be busy, and that's why you're not getting your approval soon, with new applications, and once again generated over 2 million dollars in UCC (Uniform Construction Code) revenue for the Township last year.

My insistence last year on honest budgeting resulted in over $600,000 surplus. We have recovered the last four years' worth of drawdown of our surplus.

We will continue this honest budgeting approach in the budget, and the Council will adopt tonight.

This is the first year the SPRAB was replaced by the Technical Review Committee. The first few applications under the new system are progressing well through the pipeline.

One piece of unfinished business from last year. I had proposed that we use the Township-owned land near the Municipal Complex to build an indoor sports facility for the residents of West Windsor. Due to other commitments, mainly the affordable housing issues, I didn't get a chance to move the project forward. I do hope to get started this year.

This year, I would like to propose two new projects that I intend to finish this year.

A few years back, when I opposed the solar farm on Township-owned property, I was criticized as being an anti-environment.

The best environmental policy is to make the most efficient use of all resources: time, money and space. As someone who cares about the environment, I would always pursue that policy.

I want to thank Mr. Haemmerle—oh, I didn't see you come in—a Township resident who has been quietly working with me on various solar projects for the last two years.

When I became Mayor, I realize that half the solar system that we had installed on the Senior Center was not working. [gesturing to Mr. Haemmerle] Through his persistent effort and hard work, we finally got the system restored last week. It's fully functional now.

In keeping with my motto of most efficient use of all resources, I'm proposing to issue an RFP to install solar panels on the land behind the Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Company building.

Since the Township owns both the land and the building, it will have to enter into an Agreement with the developer. The system will be a Power Purchase Agreement, costing nothing to the West Windsor taxpayers. The Volunteer Fire Company will benefit with the lower electricity bills. It will also preserve the prime land for better use.

Thanks to Dan Dobromilsky and Mr. Haemmerle, we have already established feasibility of such a system. And we'll work on an RFP and hope to issue it within next month or so. Although the Township doesn't own the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Company building, I continue to encourage them to consider such a system, and they are also working on [indistinct].

I feel West Windsor often doesn't get the credit it deserves. That's why last year I was excited to welcome Erytech, a biotech company, working on the cutting edge of science, to West Windsor.

Their ultra-modern facility is complete, and they hope to hold a Grand Opening in another month.

They will develop individualized medicine for such hard-to-treat diseases such as pancreatic cancer. I hope it is only first of many such companies opening their offices in West Windsor.

Today, I'm excited to announce a partnership with Magzter, a digital newsstand, whose Founder and President, Vijay Radhakrishnan, is a resident of West Windsor.

In simple term, Magzter is the Netflix of magazines and newspapers. As a member, you have unlimited access to their content. Magzter can do one better than Netflix, in allowing access based on "Geo Fence," or in simple terms, based on where you are located, rather than membership with username and password.

Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Radhakrishnan, everyone within West Windsor's boundary will have free access to Magzster content for one year.

Thus, West Windsor will become the first city in the US, or probably the world, to be called a "smart reading city," where you can read for free, as long as you are within our geographical boundary.

The Township will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Magzster, but it will not cost the West Windsor taxpayer a single penny. The service will be available shortly, as soon as we sign the Memorandum. So I want to thank Mr. Radhakrishnan for pursuing that.

West Windsor is fortunate to have residents such as these. I hope companies trying to relocate to New Jersey will realize where the real action is: it is in West Windsor.

And finally, 2018 was the first year for West Windsor Gives Back, my concept to raise funds for local charity.

Thanks to generosity of sponsors and Township residents, the Mayor's Ball was a sold out event.

We raised over $35,000 to purchase drones for the West Windsor Police Department.

I was happy to observe their positive impact during a Township event. They are not fully operational yet, but I promise to keep the Council and the residents informed about their use as they do become operational.

This year's recipient of West Windsor Gives Back is the Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Department. The hard-working volunteers of West Windsor Gives Back and the Volunteer Fire department are already off to a great start.

As already announced, the next year's beneficiary of the Mayor's Ball will be the West Windsor Arts Council, and the 2021 recipient will be the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Company, on South Mill Road, which will be celebrating their hundredth anniversary in 2021. [gesturing to audience] They have 50 years over you.

When the West Windsor Gives Back fundraisers reach out to you, please be generous. Remember that charitable contributions are not capped and fully tax-deductible. That's your chance to get back at IRS and Mr. Trump.

For the past 25 years West Windsor has been a perfect place to raise my family. The New Jersey Family magazine just named West Windsor as the best town for families in Mercer County, and the sixth best out of 512 in the State. We all already knew that; it's good that other people recognize it. Let us all work together to keep it that way, and thanks for coming. [applause].

[Address concludes at 16:50 into the video]