The Open Public Meetings Act in New Jersey requires that municipal governing bodies and school district boards set aside a portion of all meetings for public comment. It is a time when citizens can address the body on issues of public concern.
For the most part, the process runs well. There are undoubtedly days when public comment is the portion of the meeting some governing body members would love to bypass. There are also members of the public who use the comment period to harangue officials in ways that may cross the line of normal civility. But this is the price elected officials pay for the benefits of open and transparent government.
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No board that restricts speech, limits access and
avoids accountability has earned the right to call itself transparent.
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The law gives governing bodies the right to set reasonable limits on public comment. Time limits can be imposed, and sign-up procedures can be required. But through it all, an eye must be kept on the principle of governance being served. This is not a part of the meeting created for the convenience and comfort of elected officials. Nor is it a requirement to be met with minimal concern for its purpose. Here, the letter and the spirit of the law can diverge sharply.
This year, the county Board of Commissioners has engaged in an effort to formalize rules for public comment. Commissioner Will Morey has gently pushed back on these rules, suggesting the pendulum may have swung too far in the direction of restriction. Whether Morey believes only minor adjustments are needed or merely feels that stronger objections would be ignored is unclear.
We go on record as objecting more strongly than Morey to the board’s actions. The board’s new “Rules of Order for Public Comment” prohibit speech that is argumentative, aggressively defiant, slanderous, violates individual privacy, or “interrupts the fair and efficient operation of the meeting.”
Please parse those rules: Public comment cannot be argumentative? Can that word possibly belong in any rules for public input? Citizens do not approach the podium only to praise or politely suggest alternatives. Public comment is inherently argumentative much of the time.
The board also forbids public comment that is “aggressively defiant.” Defiant of what? The board’s authority is wholly derivative – it belongs to the very public now being restrained. Who determines what level of defiance is too aggressive? The board members who feel uncomfortable or disrespected? Defiance is not a disruption – it is often the essence of democratic engagement.
The board’s rules extend beyond the speaker to the audience, barring “excessive” clapping, booing or shouts of support or disagreement.
Would a standing ovation for a tax cut be silenced under these rules? Unlikely. These constraints are not about order; they are about silencing opposition to board positions.
What is most astonishing is the hubris displayed. County attorneys no doubt worked to ensure the rules could withstand legal challenge. But step back and look at how this board operates.
Meetings are held when most working people are at their jobs. Resolutions are not easily accessible for review before votes. Audio records of meetings are poor and only posted days later. No video is recorded or livestreamed. Yet the board claims transparency – as if saying so makes it true.
All evidence suggests transparency is far from this board’s priority. Now come restrictions on public comment, likely in response to one or more citizens becoming too bothersome for board members to tolerate.
That this is a county with little to no viable second-party challenge does not give the board license to treat the public with such disregard.
Consider the absurdity of barring citizens from objecting – at the very moment their access to information is already being constrained – unless their objections are carefully non-argumentative and submissive.
This is blatant hubris and should not be tolerated. No one on that board deserves forced deference.
Quotes From the Bible
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the people of their rights.” Isaiah 10
