WEST WINDSOR: Mayor should listen to what residents say about Canal Pointe Boulevard

Hemant Marathe, West Windsor
The following letter has been sent to West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh: 
When we started our new term on Jan. 1, both the Council members and you agreed to work together. I am very disappointed with your handling of the Canal Pointe Boulevard improvement project.
You knew that the council had scheduled a work session to discuss the project on March 21. But rather than listen to public comment and council’s discussion, you left after the business meeting before the work session even began.
It appears that you have made up your mind and are not interested in offering the courtesy of hearing from residents who waited patiently to make their comments.What triggers this letter is what I found out after the meeting. You have shown complete disregard for how township policy should be decided on any issue, especially one as significant as this.
Several times during the last three months the council has asked questions about the administration’s decision-making process for this project. Until the march 21 work session meeting, council members were not aware that a Request For Proposals (RFP) for engineering design services for the repaving and restriping of Canal Pointe Boulevard had been issued. So the council went through the entire work session without knowing the contents of the RFP or the fact that an RFP had been issued.
When the council president requested a copy of the RFP for council’s review the next morning, we discovered that not only had the RFP been released as of March 7, but that the deadline for submissions was Friday, March 18. That’s three days prior to the work session meeting on March 21. Moreover, the RFP emphasizes the “Road Diet” as the only option. Please tell the residents of Canal Pointe why this information was not important enough to be shared with either the Council or the residents before the meeting. In a subsequent email you insist that the council members should not share the RFP with anyone. Why the secrecy?
While under our form of government, you have the authority to make recommendations to the council, your lack of seeking out a collaborative approach to decision-making is very disappointing. A true leader would have been present at the work session meeting and would have made sure that council was fully informed as the process evolved.
This unfortunately puts council in a very difficult situation of making policy decisions through the funding process since that is the only option available to them. The timing of this project is of critical importance as the council clearly indicated that it wants the job completed this year. Delaying the repair of this decaying road is not fair to residents. Fortunately, the funds required to complete the project in 2016 are already identified in the existing budget. However, your lack of a collaborative approach will only lead to unnecessary delay.
I urge you to attend council meetings, listen to resident input, take an active part in the discussion, and to use a collaborative approach on all issues. 
Hemant Marathe 
Vice President 
West Windsor Council 