It has taken three years of wrangling among members of the Secaucus Town Council, but residents will for the first time be able to view council meetings at home on cable TV.
The Town Council’s Feb. 23 meeting will be the first to be televised, although air dates have not yet been set. Once a schedule has been set up, residents will be able to watch meetings on Channel 36, the local public access station available on Comcast.
The Feb. 23 meeting will be aired some time this week.
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Will be aired multiple times
Secaucus-based Flanagan Productions received a one-year municipal contract to tape the meetings earlier this month. There was one other bidder for the contract, iKids, also located in Secaucus. Flanagan Productions will receive $345 for every two-hour meeting and $60 for every half hour of overtime.
“My job is basically to tape it, edit it a bit, put some titles on, add a nice little introduction,” John Flanagan said Tuesday. “We’ll be set up in the back [of the council chambers] with a really high tripod. By Thursday of that week the video will be ready to be delivered to the town.”
Flanagan emphasized that viewers at home will be able to hear comments on their TVs better than they can in the council chambers. Sound quality has often been a problem at council meetings, with many in attendance unable to hear what is being said.
The meeting will air some time this week.
“We haven’t as of yet determined when we will be airing,” Mayor Michael Gonnelli said last week. “But there will be a schedule. It will probably be the week after the council meetings. That will give us some time to look at the tape. If it needs to be edited, it will be edited. It’s going to include the entire meeting, including the public comment portion.”
Town Councilman Gary Jeffas, who sat on the Television Subcommittee with fellow Councilman John Shinnick, said the meetings will probably air more than once.
Took three years
Although it is a common practice in many cities and towns across the country, including elsewhere in Hudson County, televised public meetings have been somewhat controversial in Secaucus.
While running for the Town Council in 2006, a slate of Independent candidates – Gonnelli, Jeffas, and Bob Berckes – promised to get meetings of the governing body televised. The promise was part of several “open government” initiatives they had hoped to accomplish if elected.
After being elected, Jeffas and Gonnelli joined forces with longtime Independent Town Councilman John Bueckner and pushed for televised Town Council meetings.
The Democratic majority on the Town Council – headed by former Mayor Dennis Elwell – was, however, wary of televised meetings, fearing that residents would “act out” for the camera. Others were also worried that inaccurate, and even slanderous, comments might be made by residents during the “public comments” portion of every Town Council meeting. Mayor Elwell and some other members of the council may have felt particularly vulnerable, as they sometimes bore the brunt of nasty comments from residents.
The Independents had wanted the meetings taped and aired in their entirety.
What will be cut?
Several months ago, the governing body reached a compromise to tape the council’s official business, including public comments made in response to proposed ordinances.
However, they said that the more open-ended public comments portion of the meeting would not be taped or aired.
Since that compromise, there has been a mayoral election and a dramatic shift on the Town Council. Gonnelli was elected mayor in November and his Independent allies now hold a 6-1 majority on the council.
In light of this shift it is no surprise that full meetings will now be aired on Channel 36 – including the public comments at the end of the meeting.
However, there will be rules the public will have to follow, the mayor said.
“We’re not going to tolerate any improper language,” Gonnelli said at Tuesday’s taped Town Council meeting. “I would hope that whatever comments are made are made with regard to the town’s business and items that are on the agenda.”
Residents who follow these rules will be given up to five minutes to address the governing body during public comments, and there will be separate opportunities to speak out before the councilmen vote on ordinances.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.