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Vol. LXI, No. 43
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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Vol. LXI, No. 43
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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It was 1987, and the Republican party was the majority on Township Committee. Then along came a newcomer to the political arena who would ultimately go on to dominate Township government, maintaining a campaign promise from that first run: to keep a “fresh perspective.”
Along with Janet Mitchell, who had run unsuccessfully the previous year, Phyllis Marchand, a former indexer for Princeton University and Collier’s Encyclopedia, won a seat on Township Committee. That was the beginning of a 20-year run that would eventually be recognized as a Hall of Fame feat by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities in 2006.
A Republican Committee is hard to imagine in 2007, but Ms. Marchand, whose Township form of government has allowed her colleagues to elect her to 10 consecutive terms as mayor, studies the changing Princeton community, still touting a platform of new perspective.
“Every issue is still new,” said Ms. Marchand, “and I look at these things with a fresh perspective because I make sure I keep an open mind with everything that comes our way.”
The mayor was, for all purposes, originally drafted by two prominent Princeton politicians, Cate Litvack and Barbara Sigmund. “They thought I would be a good candidate, but I wasn’t political. I was community active, but certainly not political. I actually had changed my registration in the 1970s to vote for Millicent Fenwick, a long-time Republican U.S. Representative from New Jersey because she was one of those rare women running in the late 70s.” A lifelong Democrat, Ms. Marchand returned to the fold following that brief stint.
At the time of her first run, Ms. Marchand had three children in Princeton public schools, was on the board of McCarter Theater, active with the YWCA, and a Mercer-Bucks Running Club member. “People kind of knew me from just seeing me on the roads.”
She used that to her benefit, it turns out. At the time of her first election, Ms. Marchand’s opponent chided her for a lack of political experience, but a wealth of marathon experience.
“I said, in order to run a marathon, you have to be goal oriented, committed, hardworking, thick-skinned and crazy — and you need every one of those qualifications to run for office.
“That was my answer, I never thought I would win, but I won and have been here ever since.”
The climate has changed in the Township since her first election, and Ms. Marchand, 67, recalled that issues, like the so-called McMansions, and sustainability, were not in voters’ general vocabulary then. The mayor said she continues to educate herself about municipal issues, including the legislative minutiae, taking lectures and seminars, and learning about bond anticipation notes, and drafting a budget. “I never knew about public service, but this whole process has been a learning experience,” she said.
On the issues, the mayor points to taxes as a major component of a new term on Committee. The Township will operate under the state-mandated four percent budget increase cap in 2008, signaling leaner times for municipalities throughout the state. “We are going to have to trim the budget where we can still provide the essential and needed services, and yet not deplete the surplus that we have worked so hard to maintain, in order to have us recognized as a community with a AAA bond rating,” Ms. Marchand said, adding that if a municipality with a good bond rating needs to borrow money in leaner years, the interest rates are lower.
“We’re going to have to watch the surplus — you read about communities spending off their surplus to keep taxes very low, but we don’t want peaks and valleys in our tax rates,” she said, calling on the Township to work with state legislators in a push for “true property tax reform.
“There are other ways that we can look at how we can fund the municipalities and the schools.”
Traffic is another centerpiece for a new term, Ms. Marchand said. Last year, the Borough and Township embarked on a campaign to work with the state Department of Transportation in a proposed redesign of Route 206, in an effort to calm the road in a way that is more sensitive to the surrounding neighborhoods. The mayor said the “philosophy in our approach to traffic” and the public involvement has made a difference.
“We had a ton of meetings, and the DOT has invested a lot of money, and I really hope that we are a test case for this type of planning,” she said.
Ms. Marchand’s reference to a Princeton-area planning project was immediately followed by a mention of her past support of municipal consolidation between the Borough and Township. “I always supported it, but as much as I know now, I have to look at it with my constituents’ eyes. I’ve lived through three votes on consolidation, and the Township supported it every time.”
The mayor went on to say, however, that she would not support a joint municipal police force without one Princeton. “The color of the police car I don’t care, but I will never endorse a joint force without one government,” she said.
A signature issue in the mayor’s tenure has been the controversial deer management program, which receives praise from some local motorists, and is derided by animal activists. Ms. Marchand insists the program was necessary. “There were areas where we were having multiple deer collisions, and it was about protection for the community,” she said. There were instances, however, where that acquired “thick skin” came in handy, as when an unknown individual left a deer carcass on the car owned by the mayor’s husband, Sy Marchand.
Finally, Ms. Marchand said she would seek the support of Committee to another term as mayor, if elected, not only to further pursue her platform, but to take advantage of the fact that the mayor in the Township has a vote, unlike the mayor in the Borough (unless for a tiebreak): “It would kill me not to have a vote!”