Commissioners Put Restrictions on Public Comment at Meetings

CREST HAVEN – The county commissioners have imposed restrictions on what residents can say – and how they say it – during the public comment portion of their meetings.

Commissioner Director Leonard Desiderio said speakers could forfeit their time at the podium if their “comments are repetitive, truculent, slanderous, violate an individual’s privacy, or are done in a manner that interrupts the fair and efficient operation of the meeting.”

Desiderio said the commissioners did not want to hear booing, clapping or cheering in the meeting room, and the resolution on public comment says such behavior “is prohibited.”

In addition, the commissioners installed a digital stopwatch on the dais that showed the five minutes allotted to each speaker and was started as each member of the public began to talk.

The public comment resolution, which was approved by county Counsel Jeff Lindsay, was passed on a 4-0 vote; the board’s fifth commissioner, Will Morey, was absent.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, through a pamphlet that addresses the public’s right to speak at meetings:

“When addressing the public body, the public body is not required to respond to your questions. The public body cannot censor your speech during a public comment portion because it does not agree with you or like what you are saying.

“The public body also cannot prohibit comments based on subject matter so long as the comments relate to any issue ‘that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the municipality or school district.’”

None of the handful of speakers at the Feb. 11 commissioners meeting exceeded the five-minute limit.

However, John Rippo of Wildwood Crest had to be asked three times to take his phone off speaker mode at the meeting. Rippo wanted to use the phone at the podium to allow his wife to give public comment via telephone.

“We’re not talking over the phone,” Lindsay said.

“I gotta talk, babe,” Rippo said.

They asked whether County Administrator Kevin Lare’s position with the Cape May County Bridge Commission, where he is executive director, was full time; Desiderio answered, “No.” Asked about Lare’s work schedule, Lindsay said it varies.

The attorney said Lare’s position was not by a vote of the Board of Commissioners, but by the Bridge Commission’s own board. He said he did not know if the job was full time or what Lare was paid, but that that information could be OPRA’d.

Lare previously said the Bridge Commission job was part time. The Herald reported in March 2024 that he would collect $55,000 from the Bridge Commission job in addition to the $120,000 he was receiving as county administrator.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.