COURT HOUSE – With the pandemic no longer seen as a threat to in-person meetings, county municipalities have been pulling back from allowing citizens to participate in governing body meetings remotely.
The most recent town to end remote public participation at meetings was Ocean City. With Council President Peter Madden saying that the council needed to balance access with efficiency, the city council voted to stop allowing remote participation. Meetings are still recorded on video and the video is accessible through the city’s website and on YouTube.
Only four of the county’s 16 municipalities currently allow remote participation at governing body meetings. These are Avalon, Cape May Point, Stone Harbor and Wildwood Crest. Participation means that the public can use remote technology to make public comment or ask questions at appropriate times during meetings. Towns forced to allow such participation during the Covid crisis have been ending the option even as some residents push to keep it.
Remote video access to meetings remains available in several county municipalities via links that allow members of the public to view governing body meetings even if they cannot offer comment.
Cape May City was one of the first to allow video access to its council meetings eight years ago and it continues to do so, having expanded the remote viewing to planning and zoning board meetings and even meetings of council advisory committees.
As of now, citizens can view live governing body meetings as well as posted recordings after the fact in seven municipalities. They can also view meetings of the Board of County Commissioners. For some of the smallest municipalities like West Wildwood, West Cape May or Woodbine, having staff to manage the technology is a challenge, and the public push for such access has been minimal.
The larger municipalities that do not provide video access include Middle Township, Wildwood City, North Wildwood, Sea Isle City and Dennis Township. Dennis does provide an audio-only recording of the meeting on its website.
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