Presiding officer duties on both the Plainsboro Township Committee and the West Windsor-Plainsboro School Board remained unchanged from last year following reorganization meetings held by both bodies on Jan. 3.
Plainsboro Township Committee unanimously voted to reappoint Pete Cantu as mayor and Neil Lewis as deputy mayor. This will be Cantu’s 43rd year on committee and 37th year serving as mayor. Lewis has served on the Committee for 22 years and is serving his 19th time as deputy mayor. The appointments are for one-year terms.
Committee members Ed Yates and David Bander, who ran for reelection unopposed in November, were sworn in at the meeting. Bander is serving his second term on township committee, and Yates is serving his seventh term.
Also at the meeting, Cantu, Yates, Joseph Greer, Lavinia Kumar, Arthur Lehrhaupt and Jetal Doshi were appointed as members of the planning board. Lehrhaupt and Werner Schmid were appointed to the Zoning Board.
Township officials who were also reappointed include township attorney Michael Herbert, public defender Robert Schwartz, engineer David J. Samuel, tax appeal counsel Harry Haushalter, tax appeal counsel for corporate facilities Richard Conley, labor counsel Mark Ruderman, and planner Shirley Bishop. The New Brunswick-based firm Kelso and Bradshaw was approved to serve as township prosecutor.
Liaison appointments include: Cantu to administration and finance; Lewis to public safety and the environmental advisory committee; Bander to public works, the council of community associations, parks and open space and the cable television advisory committee; Committee member Nuran Nabi to the recreation and community services and the municipal court; and Yates to planning, code enforcement and the Plainsboro Historical Society.
On the School Board, Anthony Fleres was elected president and Michele Kaish as vice president by 7-0-1 votes.
Board member Carol Herts, who was elected in November and sworn into her first term on Jan. 3, abstained on both votes while all other present members voted yes. Board member Rachel Juliana was absent.
The following committee assignments were made: Herts joins Isaac Cheng and Kaish on the administration and facilities committee. Juliana, Louisa Ho and Taylor Zhong will serve on the finance committee. Serving on the curriculum committee are Dana Krug, Fleres and Yingchao Zhang.
