T.F council adopts 5-min. rule for public comment

T.F. council adopts 5-min. rule for public comment
Measure aims to cut length of council session
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

TINTON FALLS — Borough Council members took a step toward shortening their meetings by adopting an ordinance that will limit public comment to five minutes per individual during all public hearings.

Residents previously had 10 minutes of speaking time.

Borough Attorney Brian Nelson said at the Dec. 1 meeting that the move is in compliance with the open meetings act.

"The OPMA requires there be an opportunity for the public to discuss any matter," Nelson said. "The time limit set for that discussion is really at the discretion of the municipality."

Nelson said that as long as the public has an opportunity, the municipality might set the rules of the public forum.

"As long as there is a reasonable opportunity to address the council that is all the law requires," he said.

One resident questioned whether the time limit would stifle residents from coming up a second time to correct misinformation.

"What I'm concerned about is the recognition of a speaker that has spoken before," said Leo Christofili, resident and regular council meeting speaker. "There may be a mistake or misinformation, and a person who has already spoken may want the opportunity to suggest there is an error and offer a contrary fact."

Christofili went on to say that it may be appropriate for a resident to come up two, three or four times during a meeting.

Nelson said in response that the discretion in that scenario would be placed on council President Duane Morrill.

"If there was something particularly cogent, then it would really be at the discretion of the council president," he said. "There is nothing in the law that would require the council president to allow a second bite of the apple even if there were something you'd like to address a second time."

Nelson added that the focus of the meetings is not to have a conversation between the council and the public.

"It is a public comment, it is not designed to be back and forth between members of the public," he said. "It is to provide the public an opportunity to address the council and the administration on various subjects."

One resident agreed that cutting the time limit would allow everyone a better chance to speak.

"Actually I like the idea of limiting the time," resident Jerry Spumberg said. "If you have a fixed time, it does give people more of an opportunity."

The measure passed by a vote of 4 to 1 with Councilwoman NancyAnn Fama voting against adoption. Fama had previously explained her opposition to adopting the five-minute time limit, stating that the council needs to do a better job of handling the public comments.

"I felt we need to do a better job of controlling public commentary that is superfluous," she said in an interview last month. "We have to keep the public commentary focused and on the issues.

"We need to do a better job as a council in trying to understand what the public's concern is," she added. "I think 10 minutes is a reasonable amount of time."

Fama said the council should exercise more control over what happens during the public portion of meetings.

"For the people that get up there and just make commentary and really don't have questions … we need to do a better job of keeping them in the time frame," Fama said. "I felt we really just need to stick to the 10 minutes, which really wasn't being adhered to."