PRINCETON: Mayor Lempert takes oath of office, pledges to focus on local business and environment

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert took the oath of office Tuesday to begin another four-year-term pledging afterward to work on making the environment cleaner, address on-street parking rules and see how municipal government can help local businesses., She was sworn in by municipal clerk Kathleen Brzezynski in Witherspoon Hall. No family or friends attended, although the mayor is scheduled to have a ceremonial swearing-in at the council reorganization meeting Wednesday, with Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-16) administering the oath of office. Re-elected in November, the 48-year-old Democrat is beginning her second stint as the mayor of the consolidated municipality., In a phone interview Tuesday afternoon, she listed some of the policy areas that she would like to see the government address in 2017. She cited the need for a municipal climate action plan with an eye toward reducing emissions. That will include steps the municipality will do on its own impacting government operations and “could” involve new regulations affecting property owners in town, she said., The environment is a critical issue for the mayor. “I live on the Earth just like you do,” she said., Along that front, she said the council is due to hear on Monday from municipal Environmental Commission chairwoman Sophie Glovier about stormwater regulations and the impact new construction has on localized flooding and what kind of mitigation should be required., Elsewhere in 2017, the town engineering department plans to study parking in the downtown, with Mayor Lempert having said recently that one focus of the investigation would be whether more parking is needed., She said Tuesday that parking meter rates – which have been the same for years – would go up, but she did not have an amount for what the increase will be., She also touched on having conversations with the business community, to explore what things the town government can do to help them, like having a permitting process “that works and is not overly bureaucratic.” She expressed concerns about national trends, with retailers hurt by online competition., Toward the end of last year, she raised the council possibly revisiting in 2017 a mandatory paid sick leave ordinance that would require employers provide the benefit to their employees – a mandate that she supported in 2016 but failed to get through council. Asked about the conflicting pulls of wanting to be pro-business but supporting policies merchants might oppose, she replied: “That’s why it’s important to be in conversation with one another and to realize at times, as elected officials, we face competing priorities.”, Mayor Lempert likely will outline some of her priorities, and review the events of 2016, when she delivers her state of the town address at Wednesday’s meeting. In 2017, she will be joined by the six members of council, all of whom are Democrats., Also Wednesday, Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller and Councilman-elect Timothy Quinn will take their oaths of office to three-year-terms. Ms. Crumiller also is expected to be voted in as council president.