Hometown Chatham

Tag: Public Comment

  • Stuffed Snail Steals Show

    Our Mayor & Council are no match for the stuffed snail that seized center stage at their regular meeting on the evening of Monday May 11, 2026.

    That evening, the Snailster frolicked behind each resident who took the podium to address the Mayor & Council, as you can see at 1:53:00 in the official video: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=507&fbclid=IwY2xjawRxQ9dleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFDdEZSbjBDQTFkb2tVRnp1c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHlS2k6-NbmSkZv3PquEHEyr4ArlswwXh16OsiZ-cRtRjyZw3OS9b574UA0Kr_aem_zuMp08GE3ZDcq1U7GbfTDQ

    In that video, the Mayor & Council sit on the raised dais, poker-faced and apparently oblivious to the Snailster’s antics until a longtime Borough resident calls and brings it to their attention.

    “There is a puppet snail in the background…” observes the caller. “It’s quite distracting…When I’m looking at a speaker, all I see is the snail puppet… Are you aware of that?” (1:59:36)

    “No, I have no idea what you’re talking about, ” replies Mayor Dempsey.

    So the caller specifies the location of the stuffed snail. Council members perk up and peer at the podium. Smiles cross their faces. A giggle sweeps the Chambers. 

    “Do you see that?” asks the caller.

    “We’re all good. Keep going,” says the Mayor, neither confirming nor denying having seen the Snailster’s stellar performance. And no wonder.

    In effect, the clever snail danced circles around our Mayor & Council’s new policy requiring walk-on participants to give their names and full home addresses on live television and Zoom.

    Of course, our Mayor & Council don’t give their own home addresses at public meetings. They don’t even disclose them in state filings almost nobody ever sees. Too risky for them.

    But when a controversial resident tried to comment at a public meeting, the Mayor & Council dusted off an old rule requiring walk-on speakers to give their addresses. https://ecode360.com/32782605#32782605 They required the street and house number. See 1:26:18 here https://chathamborough.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=1

    Perhaps once upon a time requiring such personal disclosures at Council meetings created no barrier to public participation, Today, it does. Those meetings run live on cable tv and Zoom, and in reports and videos permanently posted online, making each speaker’s name, address, voice, words, and moving image readily available to everyone all over the world forever.

    Requiring such personal details undermines the purpose of Public Comment by making it impossible for residents to participate in local government without advertising in real time that they are not at home. That and other resulting risks discourage participation by residents who live alone or with vulnerable family members, lack security systems or personal protection devices, or simply like to maintain a little privacy.

    Solution? The Mayor & Council could easily gather any necessary personal information off-camera, as does the Board of Education.

    Only thing is, that might lead to more public participation at meetings. 

    The next two Council meetings are on Tuesday May 26 and Monday, June 8, 2026, at 7:30 pm at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.

    Rest assured that you won’t need to sign in or out. There’s no dress code. Come as you are. Arrive at your convenience, sit wherever you like, leave whenever you please.

    And kindly note that speaking is optional. 

  • Lawyer to Chatham: Shut up!

    Can you believe it’s almost 2026?

    That’s New Jersey’s deadline for our Planning Board to revise the all-important Master Plan that will guide Borough decision-making and development for the next ten years.

    To get that job done, the Planning Board will need to get residents to attend meetings and share ideas, which few residents do.

    How can the Planning Board attract Chathamites to the meetings, and get them engaged in the process?

    How about muzzling residents? Seriously.

    The Planning Board already chooses not to Zoom most of its meetings, and does NOT allow residents to participate by Zoom.

    At the December 3rd meeting, which was not Zoomed, Planning Board lawyer Vincent Loughlin advocated taking it one step further: changing the Board’s bylaws to do away with the traditional Public Comment period we have come to expect at every Borough meeting, severely restricting normal, public participation in-person. (See the meeting video below, starting at approximately 11:34.)

    ”There’s so much misunderstanding about how municipal government functions,” says Laughlin. His solution? Totally shut out all public participation except on the matter before the Planning Board at that moment, typically limited to cross examination and sworn testimony on a specific application.

    Lawyers don’t make policy like that. Who told Mr. Laughlin to push abolishing Public Comment at Planning Board meetings?

    ”[Borough Administrator and Planning Board member]Steve Williams suggested that perhaps we could remove that [Public Comment period] from the agenda,” said the Borough Clerk. “So that would remove the public portion where the public can speak from the agenda so they would only speak if we had an application.” (See meeting video below.)

    Kudos to those alert Planning Board members who had the good sense to resist that flagrant power grab. We can only hope they will stay strong.

    You can see it all in the video below, where the meeting begins about 7:29 and the discussion of abolishing Public Comments begins about 11:34.