TV Or Not TV: Council Considers
Even though the City Council just published its 2006 annual meeting schedule and it has also been posted on the City of Plainfield web site, City Council President Ray Blanco says big changes may be coming.
The council currently holds regular meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month in the Municipal Court/Council Chambers at 325 Watchung Avenue.
Agenda sessions take place the Monday before the regular meeting and are held in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Avenue. The schedule is altered for federal holidays and for time off around the June primary and November general election.
Blanco said the council is looking into holding fewer meetings and finding the best location for televising the meetings.
City Hall Library is lit only with wall sconces that make the room too dim for televising. The court is brighter, with overhead lighting.
Blanco said new Acting City Administrator Carlton McGee, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Acting Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson and three council members will meet soon to discuss the number of meetings and the best place to hold them.
Coincidentally, it turns out that one of the new acting department heads is council president in Rahway this year and that municipality’s regular meeting is on the second Monday of each month at the same time as Plainfield agenda session. On Monday (Jan. 9, 2006), Acting Public Works and Urban Development Director Jennifer Wenson-Maier of Rahway was absent from the Plainfield meeting.
A few years ago, the council tried to get away with one regular meeting a month in the summer, but the volume of resolutions and ordinances proved daunting to cover in one evening.
Another consideration before cutting back on meetings might be that ordinances must be passed on two readings and then become effective in 20 days. If the council can’t pass important legislation in two regular meetings within a month but must need two months to vote final passage, there will be a longer timeline for implementation.
The rationale for any proposed change should be made public. If it is only to accommodate an acting department head’s other obligations, the public should know. If there are more solid reasons why one meeting a month is desirable, they should be spelled out.
As for televising the meetings, the city has a lot of work to do regarding its local origination channel before taking that step. The city has to get its Cable Television Board set up, put policies in place and formalize the operation of Channel 74 with proper job titles and standards.
Not very many people actually attend City Council meetings and some might be glad to have the schedule whittled down or to be able to sit home and watch the proceedings on television. That’s what citizens in Rahway now enjoy.
The council currently holds regular meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month in the Municipal Court/Council Chambers at 325 Watchung Avenue.
Agenda sessions take place the Monday before the regular meeting and are held in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Avenue. The schedule is altered for federal holidays and for time off around the June primary and November general election.
Blanco said the council is looking into holding fewer meetings and finding the best location for televising the meetings.
City Hall Library is lit only with wall sconces that make the room too dim for televising. The court is brighter, with overhead lighting.
Blanco said new Acting City Administrator Carlton McGee, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Acting Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson and three council members will meet soon to discuss the number of meetings and the best place to hold them.
Coincidentally, it turns out that one of the new acting department heads is council president in Rahway this year and that municipality’s regular meeting is on the second Monday of each month at the same time as Plainfield agenda session. On Monday (Jan. 9, 2006), Acting Public Works and Urban Development Director Jennifer Wenson-Maier of Rahway was absent from the Plainfield meeting.
A few years ago, the council tried to get away with one regular meeting a month in the summer, but the volume of resolutions and ordinances proved daunting to cover in one evening.
Another consideration before cutting back on meetings might be that ordinances must be passed on two readings and then become effective in 20 days. If the council can’t pass important legislation in two regular meetings within a month but must need two months to vote final passage, there will be a longer timeline for implementation.
The rationale for any proposed change should be made public. If it is only to accommodate an acting department head’s other obligations, the public should know. If there are more solid reasons why one meeting a month is desirable, they should be spelled out.
As for televising the meetings, the city has a lot of work to do regarding its local origination channel before taking that step. The city has to get its Cable Television Board set up, put policies in place and formalize the operation of Channel 74 with proper job titles and standards.
Not very many people actually attend City Council meetings and some might be glad to have the schedule whittled down or to be able to sit home and watch the proceedings on television. That’s what citizens in Rahway now enjoy.
--Bernice Paglia
KEYWORDS: city council, television
posted by Bernice at 8:50 PM
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