Local rule puts limit on free speech
Time strictly enforced by Long Branch council head
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/15/06
BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
LONG BRANCH To some, it is a matter of free speech. To others,
it's an issue of controlling an often unruly crowd.
But for several weeks now, since Councilman Michael DeStefano took
over the reins as City Council president from Anthony Giordano III,
DeStefano has enforced a strict five-minute rule on people wishing
to address the council during the meeting's public-comment session.
DeStefano, however, will not cut a person off mid-sentence, which
sometimes means the five minutes grow by a few seconds.
Giordano also had a five-minute rule, which he often stretched to 10
or beyond. That meant longer public sessions, although the tone of
those sessions rarely changes. The meetings generally are attended
by critics of the current administration, and during the public
session, they typically criticize.
Although some residents chafe at the idea of limiting their time to
five minutes, what DeStefano has done is not only legal, it is not
at all unusual, legal experts said.
Frank Askin, director of Rutgers Law School's Constitutional
Litigation Clinic, said Long Branch isn't the first community to
invoke limits on public comment.
"As long as they have some public comment and limit it to five
minutes, I don't think there is anybody who can legally challenge
that," he said.
Deborah M. Kole, staff attorney for the New Jersey State League of
Municipalities, said meeting conduct is governed by the state's Open
Public Meetings Act, which became effective in 1976. However, the
law was amended in 2002 to require a public comment portion at
municipal meetings.
That amendment permits the governing body to regulate the comment
session, Kole said.
"The same section (of the law) that says you have to have it says it
can be limited," she said. Kole could not say how many other towns
in New Jersey have such limits but said it was "reasonably common."
Elizabeth Mason, president of the New Jersey Foundation for Open
Government, agreed, calling the five-minute rule "rather routine,"
especially in larger towns and cities.
She said many governments will allow citizens time to make their
points, provided they are not repetitive.
"It is when people say the same thing over and over again, they will
tend to move the meeting along," Mason said.
In the smaller towns, where there tends to be less controversy, the
idea of a rule to limit public comment is less likely, she said.
Oceanport, for example, has never had a rule and does not envision
one in the new set of borough bylaws being drafted, said Mayor
Lucille Chaump. Only once in recent memory, did Chaump ask citizens
to hold their comments to five minutes each, she said.
Chaump, however, will make sure that everyone who wants to talk has
had a chance at the microphone before people who want to speak a
second time are allowed back up.
"I think if they want to come in and say something, they have a
right to," Chaump said.
Asbury Park has a three-minute rule for public comment, which Deputy
Mayor James Bruno said people have "adapted to." He said people who
want to talk longer, just want to "grandstand."
Bruno, like other municipal officials, say their time with the
public is not limited to meetings. DeStefano often urges people to
have one-on-one conversations with the mayor or council members if
they feel their concerns have not been addressed. In Long Branch,
the council will wait around after meetings to talk to citizens.
But because Long Branch's meetings have become so contentious,
DeStefano, like Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider, feels people with
legitimate issues are put off by the tenor of the audience, which
can include catcalls and booing.
"I hear it all the time," Schneider said. "I hear it from people who
come to a meeting and then leave when they see how badly certain
members of the audience behave or having heard about it they
will just not come."
Schneider maintains the best way to get results is to call the mayor
or a council member and have a direct conversation.
"The idea that people will come to these meetings to reasonably
address concerns has long since stopped being the case," he said.
Other communities have faced the same issue: critics dominating the
public agenda. At the Lakewood Board of Education, there is a policy
that board members will not engage in a dialogue with the public,
said board President Chet Galdo. Instead, citizens ask their
questions and are told to schedule a meeting with the schools
superintendent to gain an answer.
"It was impeding our ability to run an agenda," Galdo said. "It took
me a long time to realize that no matter what you do, you will
always have people who will criticize. . . . People will criticize
me or the board, they have a right, this is a democracy. It is when
a board becomes vindictive to people, then you have a real problem."
In an Aug. 8 Long Branch council meeting, the volume rose several
points when the Rev. Kevin Brown, whose storefront property is
threatened by the redevelopment of the Broadway Arts Center project,
came to the microphone.
Brown, a council candidate, questioned the council about ordinance
17-06, which authorizes the acquisition of another piece of property
for the Broadway Arts project.
He wanted to know how the council could vote on such an ordinance
when its members are currently in litigation with Brown over the
right to take properties for Broadway Arts.
"I vote for the City Council, I do not vote for the city attorney,"
said Brown, raising his hand and gesturing to City Attorney James G.
Aaron not to answer on the council's behalf.
When DeStefano gave Brown a four-minute warning, Brown said, "I'm
not done, I will continue. . . . You will not get me to sit down."
"Mr. Brown, will you let others have a chance to speak?" DeStefano
asked.
Brown turned to the audience and asked, "Does the public mind? . . .
Will anyone give me their five minutes?"
Many people in the audience indicated they did not mind if Brown
continued.
DeStefano asked for a motion to close the public session, when Brown
started talking about "getting arrested" to prove his point. No
council member made the motion to close the public comment session.
Then Councilman David G. Brown, no relation to Kevin Brown, appealed
to Brown, suggesting that if in the future he was more prepared,
perhaps his time at the microphone would be more productive.
"Are you threatening me with arrest if I don't sit down?" Kevin
Brown asked.
"No one is going to arrest you," Aaron said.
On Friday, Kevin Brown announced the formation of "PLUS Please Let
Us Speak," which he said would be a new citizens action committee
dedicated to reinstating more time for public comment at council
meetings.
The next meeting for PLUS is 11 a.m. Saturday at Garcia's Music
Shop, 162 Broadway.
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