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Politics & Government

Public Invited to Township Committee's Monday Night Workshops

Informal meetings meant to give residents chance to speak on issues in an informal setting.

 The new Township Committee meeting schedule has split the Legislative Session (which is held on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7:30 in the municipal building) from the Workshop session. ThIs was done for several reasons. 

The previous schedule resulted in TC meetings that sometimes went for several hours which meant residents with matters to discuss had to sit through lengthy statistical reports from department heads with no real opportunity to interact with them or the Committee. By moving the Department Head reports to a separate meeting, the Tuesday legislative sessions will be more efficient and productive without going late into the evening and the single Workshop meeting will more open and flexible. 

The Workshop meetings are held in the Firehouse at 7:30 p.m. on the Monday before the first Tuesday Regular session. The sessions are In the Joseph Pepe Training room on the second floor. Contrary to what has been said by Mr. Krauss in the Patch, the Firehouse parking lot is lit and the door is open. The meetings, although not televised, are audiotaped, so there is no attempt to hide anything. Just come in and either take the stair or the elevator to the second floor. No one should feel intimidated into not attending.

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The first meeting followed the previous pattern of reports by each department head, but the public also had the opportunity to interact with both the reporting officials and the TC members. This resulted in an informal and productive exchange of information and ideas. In future the process will be refined; since the statistical reports are furnished in advance to the TC members, we will have read them prior to the meeting and the discussion in public can be on broader topics and the meetings shorter. You are invited to attend and engage In productive talk with your township officials with no restricting rules. Open discussion is encouraged.

Please join us.

The next Workshop meeting at the Firehouse will be on Monday, Feb. 11, at 7:30 PM.

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