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Lambertville swears in two new council members, names Lambert council president and adopts consent agenda
Summary
At its reorganization meeting, the Lambertville City Council sworn in Karen J. Kaminsky and Evan Lie, elected Benedetta Lambert as council president and adopted a consent agenda including a mediation agreement on affordable housing; council flagged staff-holiday costs for further review.
Council members sworn in two newly elected colleagues and reorganized leadership at a packed reorganization meeting in Lambertville.
Karen J. Kaminsky and Evan Lie were certified by the county board as the winners of the November election and took the oath of office before the council. Shortly thereafter, councilmembers nominated and unanimously elected Benedetta Lambert as council president; she was sworn in and the group took a photograph.
The meeting included routine housekeeping. The council moved a consent agenda to approve appointments to city boards and commissions and to enact routine resolutions that set temporary budget lines, professional-service contracts, holidays and personnel policies for 2026. The mayor said the list included resolutions numbered 01–29 (2026); the council removed resolution 19 for separate discussion and adopted the remainder by one motion.
Councilmembers said their top priorities for 2026 include stormwater management, completing updates to the master plan, and advancing a pedestrian plan with the New Jersey Department of Transportation. The mayor and several councilmembers emphasized collaborating with neighboring municipalities and with newly appointed staff.
A separate discussion of Resolution 19, which sets holidays and staff policies, produced a request from residents and councilmembers that staff provide the fiscal cost of the additional paid days before the council makes further adjustments. One resident asked for transparency on how much the extra holiday days add to the budget; council staff agreed to provide a calculation for a future meeting. After that commitment, the council voted to adopt Resolution 19 by voice vote.
Also noted during the meeting: the council approved (by consent) a mediation agreement with Fair Share Housing (resolution 29-2026) intended to settle the municipality’s affordable-housing obligations for the next decade. Officials said the agreement will require implementing ordinances to be introduced at a subsequent meeting and that some components must be adopted by the end of March to meet the agreement’s schedule.
Votes at a glance: • Consent agenda (appointments and routine resolutions, majority of items 01–29, 2026): adopted by voice vote. • Resolution 19 (holidays / staff policies): pulled from consent, discussed, and adopted; council asked staff to report estimated fiscal impact before future changes. • Resolution 29 (mediation agreement with Fair Share Housing): adopted via consent; mayor said it provides 10 years of protection against challenges and requires follow-on ordinances.
The council also introduced Shane from CME as the city’s new stormwater management engineer, to assist on stormwater planning and remediation work. The meeting concluded after announcements about licensing deadlines and the posting of the Cavalo Park remedial investigation and remedial action report to the city website for public review.
