Livestreamed Meetings Show High Resident Turnout

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Social distancing bans on public gatherings has led municipalities to various forms of virtual governing body meetings. The result appears to be greater “attendance” by residents.
Middle Township went to a Zoom technology-driven meeting April 6, which was also broadcasted to the township’s Facebook page. At one point, the counter on Facebook showed over 40 people participating. This did not include the citizens who attended the meeting directly through Zoom. 
For a general business meeting, without the presentation of awards, the attendance was higher than at the normal in-person gathering. For Mayor Timothy Donohue, who admitted he had doubts about a virtual meeting, the result was a pleasant surprise. The meeting moved smoothly through the essential business.
Stone Harbor also used Zoom teleconferencing software for an equally smooth meeting April 7.  Like Middle Township, Stone Harbor kept the agenda limited to essential business issues. Even allowing for the officials involved directly in the meeting, the number is significantly higher than usual citizen attendance at in-person meeting.
Also, on April 7, Cape May City utilized Zoom for the official meeting participants and aired the Zoom screen on Facebook for citizen participation, using a phone and email protocol for public comment and questions.
Cape May did not limit its agenda and the three pages of discussion items, ordinances and resolutions, along with some initial technology glitches, led to a meeting that ran for six hours. 
Cape May is accustomed to an at-home audience due to its regular use of livestream for council meetings.
At 5:30 p.m., the Facebook count stood at 64, but that number varied as the meeting turned into a marathon session.