AVALON – The Borough Council will be considering an ordinance that tells people how they should behave when dealing in person with borough personnel, after an employee was reduced to tears during a recent interaction.

Borough Attorney Nicole Curio briefed the council on a proposed so-called civility ordinance at its meeting March 12. Curio presented the idea for such an ordinance two weeks earlier.

The attorney said she witnessed an incident in which an Avalon resident sought information from a Borough Hall employee in such a way as to leave the employee feeling overwhelmed and in tears.

After she and another member of the professional staff intervened, Curio decided to bring the matter to the council.

Curio has not presented ordinance language yet, but her description of the process she envisions involved a series of de-escalation steps before police are summoned.

The council agreed to consider the introduction of the ordinance at its next meeting, March 26.

In 2023 several county towns passed ordinances restricting access to areas within public buildings in order to protect the confidentiality of citizen and municipal information. That move was in response to members of the public testing the limits of videotaping and recording in public spaces.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.