Ask Your Freeholders: Why Are the County Public Safety Discussions Not Open to the Public?

Got a problem and need an answer from Camden County government? We’ve got your solution. 

Ask Your Freeholder is a weekly feature from that gets your questions answered by the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Camden County—the county's highest body of elected officials.

Just send your questions to bill.duhart@patch.com or ask it in our comment box below the story and we’ll take the first three every week and get one of the seven freeholders to personally answer your question.

Here are this week's questions:

Question 1: From Haddonfield Patch:

Why have several mass meetings of government officials on a proposed countywide police and fire force not been open to the public? Is it a violation of Sunshine laws that mandate any gathering of a quorum of public officials from a government body discussing official business be a public meeting?  If not, why not?

This answer is from Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr.

Answer: The three invitation-only meetings on the exploration of a countywide police and fire department have been sponsored by the Camden County Freeholder Board to talk with groups of elected and appointed officials who are stakeholders in the process of exploring such a shared services opportunity. The meeting held last week featured Gov. Chris Christie and State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney as well as elected officials in Camden County, including mayors, legislators, council members, freeholders and row officers.

These meetings have served an important function in bringing stakeholders together to explore a possible countywide approach to public safety. Such countywide approaches are already available in Camden County in 911 communications and in library services, among others.

These invitation-only meetings among several groups of elected and appointed officials are perfectly legal under the Open Public Meetings Act. The law states: a “[m]eeting does not mean or include any such gathering…attended by or open to all the members of three or more similar public bodies at a convention or similar gathering.” 

The meetings held on the countywide police and fire departments extended invitations to elected municipal officials, freeholders, legislators and appointed officials. Invitations were extended to all the elected officials of the municipalities and other elected officials within the region. Accordingly, this was not a “meeting” for purposes of the Open Public Meetings Act in terms of access by the general public. This determination was made by Camden County Counsel Howard Goldberg and was addressed before any of these meetings were held.

We have been very diligent in letting the public know about this initiative and updating them via the media and on our website as well as with email alerts people can register to receive on the progress of the initiative. We will continue to do this.

We are now in the next phase of our exploration where we have formed two committees—one to look at countywide policing and the other to look at countywide fire service—made up of elected and appointed officials who will have their first meeting in April.  We will keep you informed of our progress.

Question 2: From Adam Gordon of Haddon Township, submitted through Collingswood Patch:

I live in Haddon Township right on the Collingswood border and have a question. There was an old dock/place to sit on the Cooper River in back of the Hopkins House that was frequently used by our neighborhood.

Sometime last fall, much of the dock was torn up. It has sat in that condition since that time, and there is steel still sticking up in the water from the demolished part of the dock.

Did the county deliberately tear the dock up, and if so why? Does it have plans to replace it or at least make the area safer by cleaning up what happened last fall?

Answer: First of all, we’re sorry for any inconvenience. It’s very important to us that residents enjoy all aspects of our county parks. However, there were two good reasons that made it necessary for us, from a public safety standpoint, to remove the dock behind Hilltop House. First, there were major cracks in the concrete which presented a safety hazard. Secondly, it interfered with a lane for rowing events. This initial part of the repair was completed during the time when the county had a water lowering permit because the Kaighn Avenue dam was being repaired.

The Parks Department will return to this site to remove the remainder of the steel when water is low and grounds are accessible for machinery.

Question 3: From Collingswood Patch:

There was a Porta-Potty on S. Park Drive near the softball field. It's no longer there. It was a convenience to park users and joggers. Why was it removed? Budget cuts?

Answer:  The Spot-A-Pot hasn’t been removed; it’s been moved. The Spot-A-Pot on South Park Drive is located behind Hopkins House near the picnic grove.