Below is a recording of the Borough Council Meeting held on January 14th, 2021. This meeting, while appropriate notice was posted/printed, still likely fails compliance again due to the fact that it did not start at the time advertised. The meeting started almost 25 minutes late, with residents being left in a waiting room with no information being provided about what was going on. I am basing this statement on something that their own lawyer said last summer, when they had to *cancel* a special meeting because it was going to start 30 minutes past the time advertised because of compliance concerns. I fail to see how the OPMA can fault them for starting one meeting late but not almost all of the others. Of course it’s also entirely possible that this meeting started late because our Mayor simply cannot tell time. Four minutes into Mr. Cook’s five minute allotment has our Mayor trying to tell him that he had exhausted his time, simply because he didn’t want Mr. Cook to continue speaking. First, they play games to restrict the amount of time that we are allowed to speak, and then they try to steal it back by incorrectly reporting the time, allowing large chunks of dead air to occupy time, or otherwise filling it with personal stories that have no bearing on the question asked.
That said, they *did* provide the full meeting agenda via their website prior to the start of the meeting. Anytime a government body provides information to the public in this way, without forcing them to jump through meaningless hoops, is a good thing for the public.