Stay Tuned For the Next Episode of Hanover Township
Full Description:
Couldn’t help but read the front page article of Tuesday’s Daily Record, by Jake Remaly. Nicely written, Jake, “Town Meetings go on YouTube, from Hanover, Madison.”
The idea of video taping town meetings for public viewing is not new. Morristown has done it, poorly I might add, for years and Hanover explored it many times in the past, only to reject it for numerous reasons.
Transparency seems to be the new buzz word. Bringing more of our town’s government into our living rooms so we don’t have to leave the comfort of our easy chair and actively participate. Today there are more ways to communicate with our masses then ever before. Web based YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook, as well as local public television. For good or bad, we are a more ‘open’ and ‘transparent’ society.
Over the years the ‘Sunshine Laws’ requiring all meetings to be open to the public, short of legal and personnel matters which should be handled discretely, have paved the way to transparency. Minutes are published on town web sites, transcripts are readily available to the public on request and a host of other open government regulations have been complied with to invite openness.
Now let me ask this? What happens when you have a question that arises from the video you’re watching? , Do you then pick up the phone and call town hall and leave a message? (By the way, these videos are not aired real time.) Maybe email the administrator and await a response? No. You get out of that easy chair and show up at a regularly scheduled public meeting and you ask your questions of the town fathers directly from the podium. You expect and should get answers then and there - Face to face.
While watching town meetings at home may be informative in the broad sense and perhaps a true service to those unable to attend because of ailments or time constraints who really benefits? Is one sided communication beneficial to the majority of the people? Does video serve the greater public purpose or does it provide a platform to those being taped. I think the answer to this issue is a cost benefit analysis.
Let’s consider how this medium attract viewers as measured by Arbitron ratings (viewer ship) , my guess it would be a disaster worse than the Lenno Show. Jake reports that Madison has already had several ‘hits’ and Hanover may have had a hundred since the first of the year - Great! But let’s put cost and benefit into perspective. Hanover has nearly 13.000 residents, aside from the expansive business population. I do think it’s going to be quite a while before this has mass appeal.
I mentioned the cost is $375.per meeting. That’s what Hanover pays a service to video tape the meeting, Madison more. At about 24 township committee meetings a years, that’s $9,000. bucks. How about the Planning Board and Board of Adjustment meetings? Environment and health? Don’t they deserve video taping too?
For all the years I have served Hanover, some 30, video taped meetings were never something past committees found value in. They wanted our community to show up, have a dialog and get responses. The committee benefited too from the feed-back. Video taped meeting are fine if only to stay current. Participate-later - maybe.
To me, and faced with this terrible economy our town fathers have much to worry about. We can’t repave roads, can’t expand recreation facilities, we can’t have fireworks other than those donated or Hanover Township Day where our community comes together, we cut Public Works staff and the library budget, some fought to increase it. Why? No money. But somehow we can find $9,000.bucks. ;
I might be wrong, but it seems to me, a taxpayer, that in the face of lost rateables and successful tax appeals, our good town fathers have to revisit their priorities. – But be sure to set your DVR for the next episode.
