T.F. council mulls cutting time limit on comment

T.F. council mulls cutting time limit on comment
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer


TINTON FALLS — The Borough Council approved a resolution and introduced an ordinance aimed at shortening the time limit on public comment at council meetings.

In a move aimed at curtailing lengthy meetings, the council voted four to one to introduce an ordinance that would cut the time allowed for public comment from 10 minutes to five minutes per speaker. Councilwoman NancyAnn Fama voted against the introduction.

Later in the evening the council passed a resolution moving the executive session of the meeting from the end of the meeting to before the meeting. Councilman Gary Baldwin voted against the resolution.

Fama 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 week. "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, those are the people I think 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," she said.

Baldwin is not in favor of changing the structure of the meeting, but rather of making them run more efficiently.

"When we discussed whether or not we should change the format of the meeting to try to speed up meetings and get done quicker, it was my thought our problem isn't when we have the workshop or when we have executive session, our problem is the public taking advantage of us to some degree by coming up and trying to engage in long conversations," he said.

"Our meetings have been lengthened because we have some people that really enjoy bantering," he added. "We have allowed some of that to happen."

Baldwin said that moving the executive session really doesn't serve any purpose and will ultimately make it harder for some people to get to meetings.

"My real objection is I think that is an unfair imposition to put on people who have jobs and have to come.

"They have to come home, get something to eat, get their clothes changed and get there an hour earlier," he added.

"And what has been done?" he continued. "We haven't done a thing. We haven't shortened the meetings, we just asked people to show up earlier.

"We haven't saved any time. Yes, we can go home an hour earlier, but we came an hour early."

There was some discussion at previous meetings that

the council would dedicate one meeting a month to business and one meeting a month to a workshop session, but Baldwin said he would not support that idea.

"That doesn't serve any purpose," he said. "Our workshops aren't very long anyway, and if you open a public discussion, they are going to get real long.

"We don't have a problem with the workshop, we have a problem with the public discussion. So, I objected to changing the structure."

Baldwin also said his concern is not necessarily shortening the meeting, but rather conducting an efficient meeting.

"My interest is not in having short meetings, my interest is conducting a meeting that sufficiently airs the business of the day," he said. "I don't care how long it takes."

Fama, however, said that moving the executive session would help the council not to make rushed decisions.

"I think it's more effective because when you are walking into executive session at 11 o'clock at night after working all day, and having a three-, four-hour council meeting, we are only human, and people are tired," she said. "These are important issues that I think should be done first so we can all understand them with a clearer head."

Borough Clerk Karen Mount-Taylor has seen the meetings change during previous administrations and is confident that these changes will be for the better.

"I can see it working," she said last week.

The resolution would become effective on Jan. 1, while a public hearing and vote on the ordinance is scheduled for Dec. 1.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.