Lakewood Committee Continues to Hide

The last time the Lakewood Township Committee met in person at a public meeting  was March 5, 2020.  Since then, all meetings are virtually  via Zoom, requiring those who wish to speak to log on and wait their turn. This coming Monday is the township reorganization meeting which was always a celebratory event at town hall with all Lakewood movers and shaker in attendance  as new members are sworn in and the appointment of the mayor is voted on by the committee. Per the township schedule it will also take place on zoom. not only has the township meetings gone online but it was reduced from twice a month to once a month on average of 10 minutes held at a inconvenient time of 5:30 pm when most of the town is coming home from work in yeshiva or serving super to their children. Its obvious but apparently the committee does not want to face the public criticism directly to their face by Lakewood residents. The public comment has been reduced to submitting emails or logging in and waiting tp be called on zoom despite that officials make it sound like no big deal it is no comparison to in person opportunity to address the governing body directly and have a back and forth conversation In contrast neighboring Jackson has bi weekly meetings in person with the public attending as councilman show respect for the constituents, In Lakewood they they hide behind the screen once a month on a zoom call with some committee members not even showing their face. 

APP reported recently Lakewood is an exception. Nearly all local governments statewide have returned to in-person meetings, with many offering both online access and person-to-person gatherings.

so why are they doing it? The excuses do not really add up Mayor Coles told the APP  “It started with Covid and we realized that we actually get more participation this way than we were getting when it was live,” Mayor Ray Cols said. “People don’t have to come out in bad weather, we do it live and it is a reflection of the times." Well interestingly a large part of Lakewood residents do not have internet access at home or are available to tune it at that time. Some have questioned why cant the township meet in person with a hybrid component of a livestream and the ability to submit comments too. The U.S. Census reports that only 63% of Lakewood households had a broadband Internet subscription in 2021,  APP reports. There were instances of technical problems during the zoom meeting

As for the public comment it is usually an average of 3 emails read by the mayor submitted by the same people and rarely does anyone get online on the zoom call despite officials  saying that it increase public participation. Many seniors are not tech savvy to log into zoom calls and wait to be called during the meeting, almost no one does so anyhow. 

App quoted the township attorney as saying that  While online-only meetings are rare these days, they are still legal, according to Lakewood Township Attorney Steven Secare, who cited State Code Sections 10:4-8 as long as it is open to the public and the public can call in and participate,” Secare said about the online approach. “Would you rather be in Lakewood on a rainy cold night or online doing it? We have had more participation. I think it opens up more dialogue and more discussion with more people.”

Mayor Coles said  “If people were upset we would know about it, we go out and talk to folks and we are in contact with the public on a regular basis almost every day, part of my day is devoted to phone calls with residents.”

despite the excuses local residents feel left out and the appearance is that the township is trying its best to avoid direct contact with the public who would want to speak up about issues and quality of life in Lakewood