HOBOKEN – The day after the administration’s new public information policy was obtained by a local news outlet, one council member is going on the offensive, while the city is defending its new rule.
Recently, Mayor Dawn Zimmer gave out a memo saying that City Hall employees cannot speak to the media about city business, policies, personnel, programs, or issues without first getting permission from the city’s business administrator. Also, employees must notify the B.A. and an immediate supervisor following “a conversation or interview with the news media” on the same day of the contact.
City spokesperson Juan Melli said the city drafted the administrative directive based on looking at many other municipalities, including Bridgeton and Camden, which have similar rules in place.
But why do it in the first place?
“The genesis of the policy was employees were giving inaccurate or incomplete information to the press and were relaying stories that were factually incorrect,” Melli said in an e-mail. “The interest of the policy is not to stifle access by the press, to the city but to simply ensure its accuracy.”
The memo does not pertain to city council members, who are elected officials.
On Tuesday, Councilman Michael Russo criticized the new policy in a press release, saying the mayor is bringing Hoboken “back to the dark ages.”
“To put the business administrator in charge of who can speak to the press or public, when and how, harkens back to the days of the Soviet Union,” Russo said in the release.
He continued: “The public has a right to know what’s happening at City Hall without the filter of the mayor and the business administrator.”
Expect the issue to be addressed by at least one of the council members at the City Council meeting on Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. in City Hall.– Ray Smith