PETERSBURG – Upper Township Committee continues to grapple with whether to institute remote access to its meetings.
Committee members debated the pros and cons most recently at its regular meeting July 11.
Municipal Solicitor Dan Reeves noted that Joint Insurance Fund (JIF) guidelines, which are not legally binding on municipalities, call for remote access for the public if governing body members are permitted to remotely access the meetings.
“This is a good policy but not necessarily one that committee needs to follow under state law,” advised Reeves.
Mayor Curtis Corson said, “I am not in favor of any hybrid approach, which would be a disaster, so either we should have our meetings all remote or all in person.”
Municipal Engineer Paul Dietrich noted that permitting the public to access meetings remotely would call for at least contractor services if not another employee to move cameras around the room so all were in view.
“This is a different requirement than during Covid, which was a more static approach,” summed up Dietrich.
