Vote Was Perhaps Easiest Piece of Merging the Princetons

First in an occasional NJ Spotlight series looking at the merger of the Princetons.

In some ways, getting voters in Princeton borough and township to agree last year to merge may have been the easiest part of the process.

Since January 31, the Transition Task Force working to implement the consolidation has held 38 full or subcommittee meetings. That’s an average of four meetings a week.

In just nine months, the two communities will become one. There is a lot that needs to be done by January 1 and virtually no model to follow -- New Jersey’s last municipal merger, in 1997, was of Hardwick and Pahaquarry, which had a population of just seven in a township comprised largely of land in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

“The task is daunting,” said Liz Lempert, the deputy mayor of Princeton Township who was a member of the Unite Princeton campaign that worked for passage of the referendum, ultimately supported by three-quarters of voters in both municipalities last November.

To continue reading, click here.