CROTON BOARD FOLLOWS THE LEAD OF EVESHAM, NEW JERSEY'S MAYOR, COMMON CAUSE BE DAMNED

AND NOW A WORD FROM CROTON UNITED:  We seldom post news from outside of our village, but this story caught our eye. It concerns the mayor of Evesham, New Jersey, who has advised residents that they will no longer be allowed to ask questions of the town board at public meetings. Rather, they will be permitted to "make comments only."  Apparently the mayor's decision has sparked a firestorm in the township and has alarmed government watchdogs, such as the nonpartisan citizens’ action group, Common Cause.

Why is this story of note? It's because as of January 2015, our village board has quietly decided to follow the same policy as the mayor of Evesham. According to the board, citizens who attend regular board meetings are permitted to make comments only; questions that the board prefers not to answer, they simply ignore. To underscore this change, the board has changed its meeting agendas from including sections for “citizen participation” to including sections called “public comment”. Why the name change? Because, according to the village manager, calling that portion of the meeting public comment “more actually identif[ies] the purpose of that portion of the meeting.”

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