Last night Honey Brook Township apparently passed a resolution to prohibit residents from asking questions via Zoom. Some special pretzel logic in addition where they claim it is too disruptive to ‘admit’ residents into Zoom calls which are an extension of public meetings who entered the meeting late. This is a suppression of free speech and the First Amendment is it not? Therefore a violation of Constitutional rights? What’s up with Honey Brook Township?

📌 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.📌

~ First Amendment

I just can’t with this stuff…here watch this snippet:

Some residents have reached out to me after this meeting last night. It is item 1 under new business on their agenda last evening.

And that is resolution 20-2023 concerning residents rights at public meetings.

Approve / not Approve Resolution 20-2023, Public Meeting Rules of Conduct and Public Comment.

And in this resolution, which is not in their packet or published publicly on their website says they have decided that residents who attend public meetings via Zoom, which is an extension of public meetings, cannot ask questions? Say what? And if someone is late getting on a Zoom meeting, you’re not going to let them into the meeting because you find it disruptive? Are they also locking the doors at your township meeting for people attending in public if they arrive late?

People can be made late to a meeting for any number of reasons whether it’s on Zoom or in person. And if you live in an area that has some rural qualities to it which means that also you’re going to have connectivity issues at times with things like the Internet, correct?

And to potentially prohibit residents from asking questions at their public meeting if attending on Zoom, which is their literal Constitutional right and we will start there, sounds rather odd so are residents mistaken? I ask if residents are mistaken, because most municipalities offer a virtual option now and they allow residents to register for the meeting and ask questions in person on the Zoom. Some municipalities also give you the additional opportunity of submitting questions in writing in advance of the meeting, but then those questions are read at the meeting and sometimes even answered at the meeting.

But why isn’t this resolution as a document not in your meeting agenda packet? Why is it not posted online? Why is it just a line item on an agenda?

Honey Brook Township needs to try a little sunshine on for size IMHO. Another thing? Why is it you can only complete a contact form on the website unless you wish to send a general e-mail to info@honeybrooktwp.com ?

The rights of residents, no matter where they reside, are not subjective. You have the right to expect meeting, decorum, and things of that nature, but this resolution is removing a right to speak unless you can be physically present in a boardroom is a problem in my opinion. I don’t get as much in a lather about giving residents 3 minutes to comment and giving organizations 5 minutes because if you have ever attended virtually or in public a Willistown Township Meetings ever you will notice that the crew I refer to as the sewer rats tend to literally monopolize the meetings to the detriment of the residents and public at large. They drone on and on and on while people wonder if they have a point or will get to one.

I am a realist, and understand that municipalities can’t always answer on the spot if a resident asks a question, but the resident should be able to speak whether it is on Zoom or in person.

I’m hoping that Honey Brook Township will do the right thing here. This resolution is problematic. It basically says they don’t want residents to participate where they live and pay taxes.

I also watched the video a resident did in Honey Brook Township last night in it’s entirety. If the township has the technology for Zoom and a website, it’s quite simple to list the meeting links and maintain meeting recordings. Most municipalities do that, even with Zoom. They post a little link a few days after a meeting occurs. A lot of municipalities post links to meeting additionally on a YouTube Channel which is free.

Also I found the manager and outgoing chair are not correct that most municipalities do not allow comment on Zoom. That is simply not true. You register for a Zoom meeting and can comment, or there is an option to just listen and view to the meeting online as it is happening. It is pretty simple. If people can’t attend a meeting in public, then they email.

If people are late to a Zoom meeting, it is no big deal to let them in. As audience participants, all we hear is a little ding noise. As the admin of the Zoom meeting you can disable side chat which runs like text messages which no one has an issue with because that is distracting and you have the option to keep participants on mute before they speak, and people use the zoom raise hand emoji to signal they wish to speak and in most municipalities they take in person speakers THEN zoom attendees.

Someone attending a public meeting via Zoom should have the same rights as someone attending in person. They say Uwchlan Township is their model and they are familiar with the way West Goshen does things…and that came from the guy who is the outgoing chair of the Supervisors named John McHugh. Sorry not sorry, but West Goshen is not a model municipality in my opinion. And definitely sunshine adverse most of the time. And I think they offered Uwchlan Township up because didn’t their manager used to be on Uwchlan’s police force and is married to a current Supervisor there?

Also as a matter of form, these supervisors voted on a proposed resolution without having it in a meeting packet, and didn’t ask for public comment before voting on said item. That is rather unusual. So is this resolution as step to an ordinance that will be enacted? A resolution after all is designed to be an official statement of the will of the governing body. A resolution is not the same as an ordinance, is it?

As an observer, Honey Brook Township has things that they should address with this. Being MORE Sunshine friendly is never a bad thing.

Thanks for stopping by,