Open meetings advocate keeps eye on N.J. towns
Goal is to raise public's awareness of right to open government
BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

"I don't like to file lawsuits. I only do that if I have to. If I give them all of the reasons and they don't care, then I do what I have got to do." - John Paff chairman Open Government Task Force Libertarian Party of Central N.J.

John Paff makes it his business to ensure that local governments adhere to open public meeting laws.

The volunteer advocate picks towns around New Jersey, often at random, to see if their governing bodies are complying with state laws. And after two years' experience, he has found they often do not. Paff then starts a dialogue with the officials in question and if he gets no results, the matter often winds up in court.

In recent weeks, Paff, who chairs the Open Government Task Force for the Libertarian Party of Central New Jersey, has asked municipal officials in Howell and Jackson to do more to ensure open government. His requests in those municipalities are pending.

He recently visited two Middlesex County communities, Monroe Township and Milltown, and said that in both cases he found violations.

His findings in Monroe led him to file a lawsuit in September against the Monroe Board of Education, which he claims is not specific enough when informing the public that it is going into closed session during its meetings. The suit is similar to one Paff has pending against Lawnside Borough, Camden County.

Paff said the Monroe board approves the same resolution at every meeting before going into executive session, but the resolution only states that "personnel, negotiations, legal and student matters" are to be discussed. He said the notice does not include enough details for the public to know what subject is being discussed behind closed doors, something he said can and should be done under the law.

The board, he said, can still keep the actual discussions and negotiations private while providing information regarding the nature of a given discussion.

"I'm suing to require the board to be more detailed and say, for instance, that they are going into closed session to discuss [as a hypothetical example] a settlement offer received in Smith v. Board of Ed., or a contract negotiation with the janitors' union, etc.," Paff said.

Board of Education attorney Bertram Busch said the board filed a response to Paff's lawsuit on Nov. 13, but Busch would not speak of the specifics of Paff's lawsuit.

"We disagree with his allegation, but since this matter is pending in court, I do not want to say anything else," Busch said.

Paff said he has moved for a summary judgment and expects the case to be decided on Jan. 5.

Paff has been studying the Open Public Meetings Act for several years and he has learned how to determine whether a governing body or agency is not exercising good discretion with the law.

"The Libertarian Party is trying to open this up," he said, "because the Democrats and the Republicans are not."

Paff contends that the major political parties have a vested interest in keeping information from the public. Closed session discussion, he said, should be limited to matters that would undermine a council or board's ability to function.

"They should open as much as possible so that people can participate meaningfully in the process," Paff said. "They [often] don't tell you what lawsuit they are talking about."

"What Monroe [Board of Education] does is they say that it is [related to] legal issues," Paff said. "That can be anything with the Board of Education. Everything has a connection to legal issues."

Monroe's school board still goes into closed session in the same manner that formed the basis of his complaint, Paff said, adding that this is why he is seeking a ruling.

Paff said a November visit to Milltown revealed a similar situation with that community's Borough Council, although it is not expected to result in a lawsuit.

In reviewing council meeting minutes from a closed session, he made note of a couple instances in 2005 when he believes the council discussed matters in closed session that should have been part of the public meeting.

For example, he found that the council on July 25, 2005 discussed a "wild cat problem" in town and the fact that the borough administrator was talking with Franklin Town-ship's animal control office to remedy the problem.

In a letter to the Milltown mayor and council that describes specific parts of the open public meetings law, Paff said he believes the public should have been informed of and able to witness discussion on the wild cats and the desire to work with Franklin Township to resolve the matter.

"The only matter they needed to keep confidential was the council's strategy as to how to negotiate the intended agreement with Franklin," Paff wrote.

Paff did not find any resistance to his suggestions, at least not from Mayor Gloria Bradford.

In a response to Paff, Bradford wrote that his comments will be taken into consideration and that his letter was forwarded to the borough clerk and business administrator.

"Although we take pride in the conscientious manner in which we manage public information," Bradford wrote, "we are always looking for ways to improve."

Paff said the vast majority of towns he investigates are out of compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act (also referred to as the "Sunshine Law").

In Milltown, he was at least pleased with some of what he found. The borough, he said, keeps better meeting minutes than most other towns he visited recently, and it files them in a binder with regular minutes.

"They promptly acknowledged my letter and appear to take the matter seriously," Paff said of Milltown officials.

His goal is to raise the public's awareness of its right to an open government, Paff said, adding that the effort is not seeking change through punitive measures, but through open dialogue.

"I honestly think that the Milltown council did not know," Paff said. "This is the way that they had been doing it for years and nobody ever said anything to them."

Paff said he has filed successful lawsuits against the Perth Amboy City Council, the Franklin Township Redevel-opment Agency and the Union Township Council, all on open public meetings issues.

On open public records issues, he has sued Edison, the state Department of Labor, West Milford Township and Plainsboro Township. With assistance from attorney Richard Gutman, of Montclair, he has won them all, though the Plainsboro suit is now in front of the Appellate Division.

"I don't like to file lawsuits," Paff said. "I only do that if I have to. If I give them all of the reasons and they don't care, then I do what I have got to do."

Secrecy is fertile ground for corruption, Paff said, adding that one reason public meetings often receive low attendance is a lack of openness with the public.

"I go to a lot of meetings and there is always some councilman or councilwoman who is up there saying there are only four members of the public in the audience and people don't care," Paff said. "The reason people don't go to meetings is because the meetings are not meaningful and then, in closed session, they hash out the good stuff."