By Frank Mustac, Contributor
One rule a former mayor still wants Township Committee members to adopt is quit using their personal electronic devices during public meetings., Former Mayor Jim Burd speaking at the March 13 township committee meeting again urged members of the municipality’s governing body to turn over their smart phones, laptops, tablets or other devices to Township Administrator Paul Pogorzelski prior to each meeting. Burd spoke on the same topic at the Jan. 23 committee meeting., The Township Committee is currently in the process of revising rules that govern conduct during public meetings., As precedent for his request, Burd cited the Roselle Park Borough Council, which “has restricted the use of electronic devices by officials at its public meetings because it may appear officials are not paying attention or that an official is receiving information relevant to the subject matter at hand that others are not,” according to an article published in January 2016 on the website of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government., Burd insisted that the rule should be enforced on township’s planning board, as well., He insinuated that he had witnessed electronic communication being conducted between someone seated in the audience during a previous township public meeting and an official seated at the dais during the same meeting., Communicating at public meetings, he said, has to be done verbally and not by email from the audience to the dais., If it is too difficult not to use an electronic device during a public meeting, he told township committee members, “maybe you shouldn’t be on this committee or the planning board.”, Two members of the township committee also have seats on the planning board., Linda Galella, the township attorney, told Burd that he was inferring an incident took place that he had no evidence of., Galella said that there is no prohibition of the use of electronic devices during public meetings., “There is not set law on that,” she said., “But I do want to caution you on the flip side of this,” Galella told the committee, explaining that communications via email, and perhaps even text messaging, are subject to requests filed by the public under the state Open Public Records Act., Township Committeeman John Hart said that he needs his electronic device with him on the dais during public meetings in case of an emergency at home, for example., “I live by this thing. I have to have it,” Hart said. “I need my phone.”, Committeewoman Kristin McLaughlin said when she forgets to bring her eyeglasses to a meeting, she uses her device to display any documents she needs to read by enlarging the text to a size she can see., Deputy Mayor Julie Blake said she takes notes during meetings using her electronic device., “If I send an email to myself, I remember it,” Blake said., The Township Committee will likely discuss revising its rules of conduct further during its next regular meeting.
