Council Meetings Go Online

The township ran a live stream of Council's meeting on its website for the first time on Monday.

The total program, dubbed GT Citizens Access, will air each public Council meeting and provide the public with meeting agendas the Friday before each session on glotwp.com.

Also, beginning with either its Feb. 28 or March 14 meeting, Council will take questions from the Internet audience by e-mail through the the eGov-access program.

"I believe today we are embarking on becoming the most access-friendly community in New Jersey," Mayor David Mayer said when addressing Council during the meeting.

Joshua Berry, a Greenbriar resident, was one of several people to applaud the township for streaming Council meetings on its website.

"This is a program that, in my opinion, must succeed and should succeed," he said. "This is my second time talking in front of you, and I'm still a little nervous.

"And I can imagine for a lot of people they don't have the courage or the gumption to come here and talk to you, so it's safer for them to send questions to you through the Council president (Glen Bianchini)."

Erial resident Tanya Brown also praised the new initiative, adding a suggestion for it.

"The live-streaming program—it's going to be great for the township and the surrounding communities," she said. "I just wonder also if you have closed captioning for the hearing impaired included in that?"

A software test engineer, Berry offered Mayer and Council his assistance to help make the GT Citizens Access program a success. He suggested meetings be archived, and asked whether citizen questions that are not answered during the Council meeting will garner replies.

"Anything we don't answer, we will definitely send a response out and make that a part of the minutes," Bianchini said.

Council also utilized laptop computers for its agendas for the first time Monday night, part of a "green" initiative aiming to cut down on the amount of paper the township uses.

The laptops were donated by Black Horse Pike Regional School District (BHPRSD).

Following the meeting, Mayer addressed some residents' calls to air Council meetings on Channel 19, which the regional high-school district controls.

"We should not use taxpayer dollars to put politicians on TV," he said.

Still, Mayer indicated his administration would look for private sponsors willing to shoulder the cost of airing Council meetings on Channel 19.

He reported BHPRSD offered to air Council meetings for $17,500 per year, plus $150 per meeting. That cost includes the use of district video equipment to record the meetings and personnel to man the equipment.