The Hudson County Board of Commissioners may eventually consider an ordinance to prevent them from removing agenda items at meetings before public comment after a heated exchange occurred with a member of the public last week.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
When West New York resident Mark Bloomberg went to speak on the resolution to permit the installation of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras in Weehawken, Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5) stopped him from speaking since it was not an agenda item.
Romano said the resolution was tabled at the request of Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner in the wake of data privacy and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) concerns.
“ … What would happen is, every time theres an item on an agenda where there are people to speak on, they just pull it and they’ll pull it, pull it, pull it, and then one day when nobody’s here, then they put it through. Let’s be realistic about it,” stated Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2).
While he made a motion to allow residents to speak on the ALPR resolution, he did not received a second.
Under the current rules, commissioners allow residents to speak on agenda items, as well as at the end of the meeting if they sign up ahead of time. Therefore, tabled items remain in no man’s land and technically do not have a place for public comment as is.
O’Dea said this effectively silences residents who showed up to the meeting to discuss an item, adding that they might not have signed up to speak otherwise as is required to do so during the regular public comment portion- something Bloomberg tried to mention earlier.
Later in the meeting, members of the public, including Jersey City resident Courtney Walker, espoused frustration at the way the board tabled the resolution and abruptly halted comment.
“I need you all to understand when the public shows up to these meetings, we’re making time in our schedules for you. When an item is pulled last minute and the public can’t comment on it with proper research, it snuffs out all this hard work and preparation that we do and it kills productive conversation, like the AI conversation,” Walker said.
“So, my ask of the county is to approach your work with an understanding for how the public is experiencing a situation rather than just shoving us to the side.”
Walker suggested that before the agenda is posted, make sure the board is going to allow the public to comment on all the items listed. She asked that, if an item gets added last minute, add it to the next agenda.
As her three minutes expired, she stated “you made this incredibly frustrating,” despite being interrupted by inaudible hot mic audio of Commissioner Celeste Walker (D-3) who was attending via Zoom.
Romano defended the board adding late items to its agenda, and repeated that the resolution in reference was removed at the request of Turner.
“With reference to items being put on an agenda, the administrator’s office … sometimes these things happen that there’s last minute thing. It’s not to do anything disrespectful to the public,” Romano declared, later adding “society has to have rules.”
O’Dea agreed that for late agenda times, sometimes there are scenarios where something needs to be moved forward on the fly.
“What if we’re going to apply for funding and if we don’t apply it, we lose it because there’s a certain date on it. So I think we got to think a little bit more and have some more discretion,” he explained.
However, O’Dea added there was no rule against pulling agenda items during commissioners meetings, although he called for a change in policy to only pull agenda items after the public has a chance to comment.
“I think that every point made today makes perfect sense. And look, I’m not accusing the board or the administration of this, but it’s feasible that simply because you see it at planning board meetings where lawyers carry an item, carry an item, carry an item until people just give up and stop showing up to object, and then they put the item forward,” he stated.
“It’s conceivable that someone could pull the item, pull the item, pull the item, and then when suddenly there’s only two people in the audience, great. Put the item through.”
According to O’Dea, if the board puts items on an agenda, then they should keep them on, let the public speak, and afterwards pull an item, also beforehand making the board’s intentions clear to do that.
“Based on that, half of the people may say, ‘Well, I’m not going to spend my time speaking because you’re already going to pull the item.’ But at least it affords individuals that opportunity,” O’Dea said.
“If there is a way to codify that policy by ordinance, I don’t know of anyone else that will support me, but I would ask that you get that drafted for the next meeting because I think that’s fair to the public.”
O’Dea also directly commended Walker for “genuinely caring about helping people” and frequently attending commissioners meetings to raise concerns, also praising her work on the board’s Immigrant Community Safety Committee.
In reference to pulling items from the agenda; I agree with Commissioner Bill ODea stating if the item is on the agenda; it should stay on the agenda. To be fair; I feel a minimum quorum attendee should determine if items are be put in the agenda to be heard, or pulled out of the agenda not to heard. We hope that the minutes of the speaker concerns are reintroduce if not present. Welcoming Walker to the team with a fresh approach to the people, by the people and for the people.