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Want To Talk, Ask Or Vent? Try "Coffee With The Council"
By Catherine Snipe
Yes, said township council, there will actually be free coffee there. But township council Dan Toth said jokingly he hopes
there will be cookies, too.
The township council began holding "coffee with the council," a meeting during
which residents can talk to township offi- cials, ask questions or bring up concerns.
The sessions are held immediately before the weekly public council meetings, Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. After the coffee end at 7 p.m., officials move across the hall to
hold their public business meeting.
This week was the third installment of "coffee with the council." Toth said the idea
is to have at least one council member at the meeting to take resident comments. "At least one person there, to scream at, yell at, talk to or ask a question," Toth said.
Council President Stephen Acropolis said the sessions are another way to interact with public officials.
It is not a way to deter residents from using the public comment portion of township council meetings, which puts their comments in the minutes as part of the official public record, officials said. That will remain an option for residents to bring up matters publicly.
However, the coffee provides a way to bring up issues more conversationally, and possibly also clear them up before matters need to come before the council, Acropolis said.
Tuesday, Mayor Dan Kelly offered his
own public meet-and-greet session. He held "Meet the Mayor" at the Brick Branch of the
Ocean County Library, between 1 and 2 p.m. No appointments were necessary.
Acropolis also reported recently he feels Brick is ahead of the curve as far as opening up government to its citizens.
State Sen. Andrew Ciesla is sponsoring legislation outlining how all townships should have their government meetings videotaped. It's something Brick already does, thanks to a program that began in 2004. The taped meetings are broadcast on Brick's public access channel, Channel 20 on Comcast Cable.
"We open government up so people at home can see what we do," Acropolis said. "You shouldn't have to legislate this, people should be willing to have this taped."
The council next week will consider a contract to bring the taped meetings to its website, http://www.twp.brick.nj.us.
The program would place video files of township council meetings on the site. The contract will spell out whether the videos are streamed or available for download. It would be the first video archive of township meetings available without a call to the videographer.
The contract, totaling almost $10,000, would obtain professional services to assist the township in the streaming and distribution of live and archived video and audio content. The company being considered is Granicus, Inc., located in San Francisco, CA.
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