By Anne Levin

Princeton Council voted unanimously at its virtual meeting on Monday, April 27, to adopt the 2020 municipal budget that was re-introduced at its last meeting. Amended in light of the pandemic and its impact on the local economy, the $64 million budget has no tax increase.

The ongoing shutdown has presented numerous challenges to the municipality. The town’s administrator Marc Dashield delivered an update on how these challenges are being met, and how operations will continue once Witherspoon Hall is reopened.

Staff has been working remotely in some cases, while others have been in the building on alternative work schedules to complete necessary tasks. The departments involved in health, safety, and public works are on site, and the recreation department continues to maintain public parks and take care of trash and recycling.

Those paying taxes this quarter are urged to do it online or by mail. For those who cannot do so, a drop box is in place in the lobby of the police department.

Dashield said a committee of municipal employees has begun to look at what municipal services will look like once the building officially reopens. “They will investigate and then make recommendations on things like social distancing, child care, high risk employees, and long-term infection prevention strategies,” he said. Glass shields are being installed in different departments to protect employees and visitors.

Building inspections are being carried out using FaceTime when possible. Regarding fire prevention inspections, the town is now requiring affidavits confirming the existence of smoke detectors so that buyers of homes can close on their purchases.

As has become the norm at Council meetings since the pandemic began, there were reports from Princeton Health Officer Jeffrey Grosser and Princeton Board of Health Chair Dr. George DiFerdinando. Both stressed the importance of contact tracing, which tracks the contacts of infected people and notifies them of exposure.

“This is our number one tool in regard to how we do disease investigations,” said Grosser. “In Princeton, we are very fortunate to have staff devoted to getting to the bottom of where these infections came from, and trying to limit the spread. We have to continue to urge people to socially distance and wear a mask. We have to continue to do this. This is working, but it is not a fast process.”

DiFerdinando said that typically when a person is contacted about possible exposure, they are offered treatment in return. But the current situation is particularly challenging because there is no antiviral medication or vaccine. “Between now and when we have a vaccine, it is going to take all our brains and emotional ability to work through this,” he said. “That’s my biggest message to the Council tonight.”

Mayor Liz Lempert said the next Council meeting on May 11 will take a second look at the governing body’s goals and priorities and examine what should be the focus and what might be worth postponing until 2021. An increase in contact tracing and efforts to make sidewalks wide enough to provide proper social distancing are among actions that are likely to take precedence in the current environment.