The Lakewood Development Corporation held a "Special Meeting" this past Monday afternoon.
There are two questions of concerns regarding this meeting: 1) did the LDC comply with the OPMA requirement to "deliver [adequate notice] to at least two newspapers?;" and 2) did the LDC comply with the Statutory requirement "to allow public comments to be submitted... in written letter form by a reasonable deadline?"
The public's civil right to receive adequate notice prior to all meetings of public bodies, to be present at all such meetings, and to witness in full detail all phases of the deliberation - as well as to participate in such meetings through public comment - is extremely well settled.
The Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act (N.J.S.A. 10:4-7&8) goes so far as to "find and declare that the right of the public to be present at all meetings of public bodies, and to witness in full detail all phases of the deliberation, policy formulation, and decision making of public bodies, is vital to the enhancement and proper functioning of the democratic process; that secrecy in public affairs undermines the faith of the public in government and the public's effectiveness in fulfilling its role in a democratic society, and hereby declares it to be the public policy of this State to insure the right of its citizens to have adequate advance notice of and the right to attend all meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting the public is discussed or acted upon in any way..."
"Adequate notice" means written advance notice of at least 48 hours, giving the time, date, location and, to the extent known, the agenda of any regular, special or rescheduled meeting... which shall be... delivered to at least two newspapers... designated by the public body to receive such notices because they have the greatest likelihood of informing the public within the area of jurisdiction of the public body of such meetings...
So, keeping those meetings open to the public and allowing us to observe what they are up to - and to participate via public comments - isn't simply "good politics." It's the legit law.
And quite an important law at that!
The right to present public comments during public meetings is more prominently codified in N.J.S.A. 10:4-12(a):
A... governing body... shall be required to set aside a portion of every meeting... for public comment on any governmental... issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the municipality...
A separate chapter of the Statue (N.J.A.C. 5:39-1.4(f) provides for emergency remote meeting protocol for local public bodies. That Statue provides:
In advance of the remote public meeting, the local public body shall allow public comments to be submitted to the official responsible for creating the meeting agenda by electronic mail and in written letter form by a reasonable deadline.
The LDC published notice of their special meeting last Saturday, August 12, 2023 in the Asbury Park Press.
The notice states:
PUBLIC NOTICE
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Lakewood Development Corporation will hold a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees on Monday August 14, 2023, at 4:30PM via Webex Teleconference for the purpose of discussion and acting upon the acceptance and authorization to: award a contract for professional services 5-year UEZ zone development plan authorize a loan for student busing Lakewood Student Transportation Authority.
This meeting is open to the public and formal action may be taken.
PUBLIC MEETING ACCESS information: Live streaming of the meeting accessed here: www.townhallstreams.com/towns/lakewood_twp_nj To join the virtual Webex meeting go to the following website: https://lakewoodnj.webex.com/meet/LakewoodDevelopmentCorporation | Access code: 792 038 480 To join the virtual Webex meeting via phone call: (408) 418-9388 | Access code: 792 038 480
Public Comment during the public portion of the meeting can be made by "raising your hand" by dialing *3 if by phone or clicking the "hand" icon if by internet and wait patiently to be called upon.
Comments can also be emailed 8 hours prior to the meeting to: UEZComments@Lakewoodnj.gov.
Comments by mail can be sent to: Lakewood Development Corporation, 231 3rd Street, Lakewood NJ 08701; written comments must be received by 12:00 PM a day before the meeting.
Proper decorum by the public will be strictly enforced.
A complete review of rules and guidelines for public participation in remote public meetings can be found here: http://bit.ly/LDC_Rules_for_Remote_Public_Meetings
This Notice is being provided in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, P.L 1975, c. 231.
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LDC Executive Director David Klein has advised that aside for publishing this notice in the Asbury Park Press as a paid ad, this notice was also delivered "for informational purposes" to The Star Ledger. However, it does not appear that The Star Ledger actually published the notice.
In the 1996 published case of Lakewood Citizens v. Tp. Committee, the New Jersey Superior Court concluded that actual publication is not required, however the judge did establishe a precedent in invalidating formal action because the Township failed to deliver the notice to at least two newspapers in time to permit those newspapers to publish the notice 48 hours before the meeting, finding that "it is only when a public body has given 48 hours' advance notice to newspapers capable of timely publication that it can be concluded that all reasonable effort has been made."
The question that remains therefore is, did the LDC actually deliver the notice to The Star Ledger in time to permit them to publish the notice 48 hours before the meeting?
More importantly, it's questionable if sending a notice to a newspaper "for informational purposes only," as Mr. Klein has stated he did, complies with the Statutory requirement to "deliver to at least two newspapers" when the newspaper did not actually publish the notice, likely because it was not a paid ad.
Additionally, N.J.A.C. 5:39-1.4(f), cited above, stipulates, "In advance of the remote public meeting, the local public body shall allow public comments to be submitted to the official responsible for creating the meeting agenda by electronic mail and in written letter form by a reasonable deadline."
The special meeting notice was published in the Asbury Park Press on Saturday, and the meeting was on Monday; the notice stipulates that "comments by mail can be sent...; written comments must be received by 12:00 PM a day before the meeting." This means that written comments sent by mail must be received Sunday afternoon.
Does this provision comply with "shall allow public comments to be submitted... in written letter form by a reasonable deadline?" For the record, the United States Postal Service is closed on both Saturday and Sunday. When - on Saturday - precisely do they expect people to drop their letters in the mail for it to be received by 12:00pm on Sunday??
Does this sound like a meeting that Senator Baer would be proud of?
So far, Township officials have not released any public statement regarding any of these concerns.
The OPMA 10:4-15(a-b) provides that:
Any action taken by a public body at a meeting which does not conform with the provisions of this act shall be voidable.. in.. Superior Court, which proceeding may be brought by any person within 45 days after the action sought to be voided has been made public.....If the court shall find that the action was taken at a meeting which does not conform to the provisions of this act, the court shall declare such action void.
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4 comments:
The LDC followed the rules, I saw all of the notices more than 48 hours before the meeting.
The LDC violated the State rules when they deliberately published a faulty Notice on Saturday telling people that they had the opportunity to mail in public comments - which had a deadline to be delivered to the LDC on the very next day - which was a Sunday?!? The entire country knows that the postal service doesn't deliver mail on Sunday!!! And even if the mail courier would deliver it on the day after, being Monday, it would be deemed too late according to the LDC's very unfair and totally unreasonable protocol.
Clearly, this Notice was designed by Mr. Klein to deprive the public of their rights in violation of the OPMA. The LDC rigged the process by refusing to give the public enough time to fully participate in what is supposed to be a PUBLIC meeting. What a disgrace!
The emergency meeting notice was posted on the Lakewood township website well before Wednesday the week before the meeting giving Lakewood township residents ample opportunity to provide comments. No one in Lakewood gets their news from the news papers regarding township meeting scheduling. Everyone sends in comments by email, or shows up on the meeting stream to make a public comment vocally. No one sends in comments by mail. And the reason that this was time of the essence emergency is because the LSTA that has a gap in funding needs the two million dollars immediately to pay the bus companies to ship our over 50,000 children to and from school. Imagine The nightmare of not having busting and parents having to drive their kids to and from school, that would shut this town down to a crawl. On the contrary, Mr Klein's intent was Noble to save this town tremendous aggravation, heartache and probably millions of dollars over the next many months in lost revenues to our local businesses. Mr Klein is a hero. Unfortunately FAA News never sees the other side of the story.
@Anon 8:15am
No one is disputing whether or not David Klein "is a hero," or whether or not the emergency meeting will "save this town tremendous aggravation, heartache and probably millions of dollars over the next many months in lost revenues to our local businesses."
The only concerning questions are:
1) Why was the notice delivered to The Star Ledger "for informational purposes only?"
2) Does delivering a notice "for informational purposes only" comply with the OPMA requirement that "Adequate notice... of any... special... meeting... shall be... delivered to at least two newspapers..."
3) Was the notice actually published in The Star Ledger?
4) N.J.A.C. 5:39-1.4(f) stipulates, "In advance of the remote public meeting, the local public body shall allow public comments to be submitted to the official responsible for creating the meeting agenda by electronic mail and in written letter form by a reasonable deadline."
The special meeting notice was published in the Asbury Park Press on Saturday, and the meeting was on Monday; the notice stipulates that "comments by mail can be sent...; written comments must be received by 12:00 PM a day before the meeting." This means that written comments sent by mail on Saturday must be received Sunday afternoon.
Being that the United States Postal Service is closed on both Saturday and Sunday, does the LDC meeting notice provision comply with "shall allow public comments to be submitted... in written letter form by a reasonable deadline?"
Many actions taken by public bodies may be "hero," moves and may "save the town tremendous aggravation and heartache," however, the formal actions still need to comply with the Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act, otherwise a court "shall declare such action void."
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