FREEHOLD — Borough residents will now have a way to publicize community events through periodic mass email communications and through the Freehold Borough Internet website.
The subject was discussed at the Jan. 17 meeting of the Borough Council.
Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins is crafting a policy regarding this issue. The goal of the policy will be to allow residents and elected officials to provide announcements of upcoming events of community interest and to allow for a swift method to get the information out to residents.
According to the policy, “Community events means any charitable, educational, cultural or recreational event either taking place in Freehold Borough or sponsored by a Freehold Borough-based organization or person.”
Higgins said in general, the announcements are not intended for the promotion of for-profit groups. She said notices or announcements being submitted for dissemination should include the name of the group, organization or person, the name of the contact person, if any, and an explanation of the event.
She said space on the borough’s website will be allocated on a first-come, firstserved basis.
Higgins said each announcement must be kept to a maximum of 100 words, in paragraph form. The material should be emailed as a Microsoft attachment to [email protected] with “News Bulletin” in the subject line.
Announcements may also be mailed to Borough of Freehold, 51 W. Main St., Freehold, attn. Pat Ruegger.
AdobeAcrobat (PDF) files such as fliers or articles with logos, photos, images or further details may also be sent, in addition to, but not instead of, basic text. Such content may be added as a link.
Higgins said residents should indicate whether they wish the announcement to be posted on the borough’s website, sent as an e-bulletin, or both.
The borough has provided e-bulletins for residents to receive up-to-the-minute municipal communications. In order to sign up for this bulletin, residents should go to www.freeholdboro.org or contact Pat Ruegger at 732-462-4200 and provide her with an email address.
The policy will contain a section specifically for Borough Council members who wish to post announcements and events.
According to Higgins, “The announcement may contain updates on committee actions, council actions, grants received, public works updates, matters which may be of interest to borough residents and businesses, and reports on local activities which have occurred.”
Updates, reports and announcements should be authored or posted by the council person assigned to that committee, or responsible for a particular event or project, or by the mayor.
The attorney said the postings or e-bulletins from council members may not be used for political or partisan purposes.
The policy states, “Postings or e-bulletins may not be used to claim ‘credit’ for any such legislation, project, event or subject of the post, but merely to be used as an informative tool to keep residents informed of relevant issues.”
All proposed postings and/or e-bulletins will be reviewed by Higgins for content.
It was decided after discussion among the members of the governing body that submissions from council members would be penned “From the Desk of …” listing each council person who is using the e-bulletin for an announcement.