In 2001, Ryan Lillienthal, at 33, just two-and-a-half years into his first elected term on Princeton Borough Council, stepped down from his post, citing the time management constraints he faced after becoming a commuter.
In December 1998, then-Councilman Mark Freda decided that something had to give after his second child was born and he began commuting regularly to Manhattan as a vice president at Goldman Sachs.
In December 1999, Bill Slover, facing a re-election bid, also cited family commitments as to why he would limit his Council tenure to only one term.
Commuters and young families have long been an anchor demographic in Princeton, but, at the same time, there has also been a tendency to see the semi-retiree with grown children as the most stable figure in local government.
In an effort to deal with the issue, Councilman Andrew Koontz, 38, is trying to make elected government in the Borough more adaptable to younger commuters with children — a demographic he feels is overlooked by the current constructs of Borough government.
Last Wednesday, frustrated by his own inability to serve on boards and commissions that meet during the day, Mr. Koontz requested that Council support a proposal that would make the meeting times more accommodating to the schedule of someone with a full-time job.
You need an unusual amount of flexibility, and it's just not common. I don't run into too many working people who can manage to do that," Mr. Koontz, a television editor at CBS in Manhattan, said in an interview Thursday.
But to be fair, wouldn't anyone with a young family, a full-time job, or both, have a tough time serving an entire community as an elected official? Not necessarily, said Mr. Koontz.
"One of the reasons why you go into public service is to make an effort to change things, to reform things.
"For me, something that was very important going into office was to open up public service to a broader range of citizens," he said, pointing out that currently on Council, the "least represented" demographic is that of the full-time worker. David Goldfarb, employed by the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath, is the only other member of Council who works full-time.
The difference is, Mr. Koontz said, that Mr. Goldfarb works locally and has a bit more flexibility (albeit not much, Mr. Goldfarb said.)
"If you took any seven citizens at random, I don't think you would find only two full-time working stiffs," Mr. Koontz said.
"Clearly and institutionally, they've developed a system that is increasingly difficult for working people to serve."
Mr. Koontz is not only the only member of Council under 40, but he is the only member of Council under 50 as well, a point not lost on former Councilman Lillienthal: "If you had diversity on the governing body, you'd have broader perspectives on all types of projects." According to Mr. Lillienthal, who now runs his immigration law practice in town, the downtown redevelopment project, namely the Library plaza, was something that would have benefited from the perspective of someone with young children.
"It's a dead space," he said, emphasizing that there is little for children to do in the plaza area.
It's gotten to the point, Mr. Lillienthal added, that any local representative government is, in essence, dictated by scheduling. In Princeton, he said, "Democracy comes down to when meetings are held."
Both men note that the meetings are likely held at the time they are to accommodate Borough staff, which has become accustomed to standard working hours under the flexible schedules of Mayors Marvin Reed, Joe O'Neill, and now Mildred Trotman. Mr. Koontz said that many crucial decisions or ordinances regarding finance and public safety are decided on while still in the subcommittee stages, and are sent to Borough Council for public hearing and, in many cases, adoption.
In the Township, Lance Liverman, a first-term Committeeman who takes care of three young children with his wife LaTonya, runs his own real estate development company, Liverman Associates, and works locally. He said things are more flexible in the Township, however. "They are very, very understanding in regard to work schedules. We would even arrange a Township Committee's area of concern with that person's schedule."
Mr. Liverman said members of Committee are generally assigned to boards or commissions that fit their schedules. "We understand that people need to eat and sleep because you're not making the pay in this job," he quipped. Elected boths, in both Borough and Township, including the mayors' seats, are part-time.
Mr. Liverman, for his part, said that he did not feel he was at a disadvantage in relation to other members of Committee with more time on their hands; rather, he said, there was more of a "balancing act" that needed to be addressed, but, "it's harder with a young family, with employment responsibilities, it's just harder."
Mr. Koontz agreed that more responsibilities means more time management, but maintained that changes could be made for a Princeton demographic that is highly visible, day in and day out, on the Dinky that ushers busy commuters in and out of town: "For part-time government to schedule things in such a way that people have to make career changes to serve sets a barrier that's too restrictive."