The ordinance that changes the rules of procedure during Edison Township Council meetings has a lot of good ideas, and we endorsed those parts wholeheartedly in previous editorials. We like the seven-day lead time between nominations and appointments, for example, and we do agree that outlining the budget schedule will add at least some efficiency to a process in sore need of it.
The council should also be commended for mandating placement of ordinances, agendas and resolutions on the Internet — residents and journalists alike would probably agree that this makes things much easier. Further deserving of praise is the removal of the one-hour limitation on the public session as well as the part allowing the council president to remove people who make “inflammatory, insulting or defamatory remarks.” Lack of specificity in that section would have given that person too much arbitrary power.
But we cannot support limiting the people’s right to address the council to only once per item of business. It’s true that meetings do tend to go on. And on. And on. As the clock ticks on, the eyes grow heavy and the bottom gets numb and we all start thinking about the 1,001 things we’d rather be doing than sitting in those council chambers. Please believe us when we say we can empathize.
As unpleasant as this is, however, we also know that back-and-forth debate is the thing that makes the democratic process work. What if, say, someone asks a question and its nature is misinterpreted? So, the resident gets an answer but not to the question he or she asked.
If the council is still intent on limiting the number of times someone can come up, we’d think any number is better than one. If, truly, people are going to have a limit, might we suggest three times? One minute could be shaved off each time they get up.
Finally, we’d like to encourage anyone who previously had been hesitant to attend meetings and take part in the process to take this ordinance’s passage as a signal to start. We’ll agree that more voices, diverse voices, in the council chambers are a good thing. Debate should not just be between residents and council but also between residents with divergent viewpoints. If the meeting length and atmosphere have truly prevented some residents from attending before, now is your time to come out.