Council adheres to time limit
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

HOWELL - Where Mayor Joseph DiBella hedged, Deputy Mayor Peter Tobasco pulled the plug.

With DiBella absent from the Sept. 19 Township Council meeting, Tobasco and two members of the council voted to close the meeting's public comment session after one hour had passed and only a handful of residents had addressed the governing body.

A straw poll showed majority support to end the comments, with Councilman Juan Malave and Councilwoman Cynthia Schomaker voting to end the public session at the established time limit of one hour.

"Here we are, we're past the hour and we only heard a few people," Schomaker said.

Councilman Robert Walsh asked his fellow council members to continue the public comment session, but did tell residents to consider the time constraints.

Walsh specifically asked resident Abe Magid to keep a time limit in mind as Magid had addressed the council for nearly half of the entire public session.

The lengthy comments of Magid and fellow citizens ultimately prevented about 10 other residents from speaking at the meeting.

The council's public participation rules include a five-minute limit per speaker and a one-hour total for the public comment session. The council has not always enforced either time limit in the recent past.

Meeting length has been a cause for concern over the past six months as council members have found themselves taking action on agenda items past midnight more than once.

Malave said that cannot happen.

"We cannot be here voting on ordinances at 1:30 a.m.," he said.

Previously, DiBella indicated that he planned to limit residents to five minutes, but never followed through with that plan.

Then, on Sept. 6, after the council had endured another lengthy meeting, its members discussed setting more formal time guidelines and regulations for meetings. Township Manager Thomas Czerniecki was asked to draft a series of best practices for conducting meetings.

Schomaker called for those best practices at the Sept. 19 meeting.

"I'm not saying citizens are disrespecting each other; we need to make some rules and regulations. Expedite that ordinance," the councilwoman told Czerniecki.

Noting the developments, Tobasco took a hard line regarding public participation at council meetings.

He said to the residents in attendance, "You have to police yourselves, we are going to stick to the hour [total time limit]. You should succinctly say what your main points are. There's no reason somebody can't get up here in five minutes. When you come to speak to us, try and get it done in five minutes."

Tobasco said residents do not need to wait for a council meeting to bring their concerns to public officials, since the township operates Monday through

Friday to handle a multitude of requests.

He said Czerniecki is considered to be the chief executive officer of the township and can be contacted directly by residents who have concerns about municipal issues.

As the council decided to close its public session after one hour, resident Barbara Dixel expressed her disapproval.

"Too damn bad," she yelled. "How dare you give me a hard time!"

Dixel said she believes she is frequently made an example of to limit discussion.

Making the issue political, both local parties issued press releases - against (from the Democrats) and in support of (from the Republicans) the council's decision to close the public comment session before everyone had a chance to be heard.

The council, which has four Republicans, one independent member and no Democrats, was expected to meet again on Oct. 3.

The panel's Oct. 10 meeting is scheduled for Howell Memorial Middle School, Route 524, at 7:30 p.m.