First Chickens, Now This: Is the Council Playing the Scutari Stall?

Tonight’s Berkeley Heights Town Council meeting is scheduled to include a significant agenda jammed with resolutions connected to redevelopment at the Nokia site, millions in emergency spending and more.

However, the meeting will begin with a conference session devoted to the Berkeley Heights Public Schools referendum. That session is expected to extend the length of the meeting significantly and shift attention away from other agenda items that residents may have planned to address or ask questions about.

This structure follows a recent pattern – in the past six months, the Council has scheduled multiple conference sessions alongside already packed agendas that led to meetings running late and required residents to wait extended periods before speaking.

A similar dynamic played out at the state level during hearings on a controversial bill that sought to dis-empower the Office of the State Comptroller, where lengthy, tangential conversations delayed public testimony for hours. A room packed with residents and officials wanting to speak about the controversial bill was made to wait as Senator Scutari droned on and on.

Transparency and outreach are important pieces to a referendum effort, however the decision to place this important topic in a conference session within an already full and significant agenda will impact its efficacy.  It can also come across as a cynical ploy to tire out residents motivated to engage the Council on Nokia and emergency spending (along with a whole host of other items). Residents intending to speak on other agenda items should be prepared for delays, as occurred during prior meetings structured in this way.

A dedicated, standalone conference session focused on the referendum would have allowed for more focused engagement with residents while giving the issue the time and attention it deserves.

Related: Nokia Redevelopment Investigation, $16.7M Emergency Spending, and Key Questions