With Hurricane Sandy due in hours on October 29 and a meeting slated for 7 p.m., the council abruptly changed the time to noon with barely an hour’s notice, immediately raising questions about the legality of the quick change.
According to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), a governing body must give at least 48 hours notice for any regular, special, adjourned, or unscheduled meeting. However, Township Attorney Michael Herbert explained the meeting was legal because Council had used the emergency provisions under OPRA due to the impending hurricane. Herbert said the meeting was necessary to take care of financial documents and to address storm precautions.
“It was moved up because the storm was supposed to hit the time we were supposed to meet,” said Herbert. “It was a very quick meeting to make sure all our financial ducks were in a row and to make sure town was prepared for the storm.”
He estimated the meeting was a little more than an hour.
Action did take place, but on issues Herbert said were “nothing of real importance,” such as the authorization to get more rock salt. The council also authorized bills and claims on the agenda, which Councilwoman Linda Geevers said needed to be approved within 30 days, according to a state law.
Geevers added she had also questioned the short notice, but had received confirmation from Herbert that it was legal before agreeing to change the time.
Councilman Bryan Maher said only two members of the public attended: residents John Church and Jonathan Word. “We plowed through everything on list,” said Maher. “If the main reason for rescheduling was to do bills and claims, we certainly did a lot more than that.”
Police Chief Joseph Pica, Public Works Director Alex Drummond, and Jim Yates, the director of emergency services, also attended to give brief statements on storm preparations and answer questions.
The council was supposed to have a special meeting on Thursday, November 8, but canceled it due to the recent nor’easter, according to Geevers. She said she received no specifics of its agenda, but that the issue to be discussed surrounded introducing a change to the salary and wage ordinance for some town employees.
The next council meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 26, at 7 p.m.
