Joe Derella writes that a local assemblyman could have been heard on immigrant driver's licenses at a freeholder meeting if the lawmaker had made clear he intended to speak.
By Joe Derella
As director of the Cumberland County freeholder board, I must respond to recent articles regarding access to the freeholder meeting room at the Cumberland County Administration Building in Bridgeton.
The county truly appreciates hearing from the public. We have not one, but two, opportunities for the public to speak on agenda items as well as anything else that public deems relevant. This is not the norm in most counties. It is also important to note that most of our freeholder meetings have an attendance of fewer than larger than 20 people. The freeholder meeting room currently has a capacity of 49.
The county continues to take necessary steps to increase capacity by installing a new Americans With Disabilities-compliant front door. Resolution 2015-457, which was approved at the board's Sept. 22 meeting, authorizes funding for this. Additionally, another exit door will be installed in the meeting room. These two actions will allow us to increase capacity to approximately 78 people.
It was very disheartening that any member of the public would feel as though he or she could not express his or her views at a public meeting. Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi, R-1, claimed that he was denied entry to the Sept. 22 meeting. I am absolutely appalled by the accusation. (Fiocchi, who is running for re-election, says he planned to speak on his petition to oppose a previous board resolution urging drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants.)
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The assemblyman arrived at the administration building at approximately 5:10 p.m., about the same time I did. He was in the meeting room at about 5:30 talking with his staff. Then, for some reason, he left the room.
Never, ever, in my three years as director have I ever denied anyone the opportunity to speak at a public meeting. As a matter of fact, after the meeting, the assemblyman and I had a great conversation and he never once expressed his concern about this. I would think if he were that upset, he would have mentioned it. In reality, all that he or his running mate had to do was let someone know that he wanted to speak. It's just that simple.
Furthermore, the very few times that there has been a capacity issue in the meeting room, individuals have gladly stepped out of the room so that others could enter. We have also had folks let a sheriff's officer or staff member know that they wished to speak, and the request was easily accommodated.
To that end, while we continue implementing necessary changes to increase our capacity, we will ensure that allegations similar to Fiocchi's are never made again, by implementing a formal process. We will do this by creating a form that anyone wishing to speak will complete prior to the meeting.
This form will ask for the speaker's name, municipality or organization, and whether the speaker wants to address an agenda item or, during the second comment period, any other matter. The forms will then be given to the director, who will call to the microphone those who have signed in.
In case there is a capacity issue in the future, the county is also installing a speaker system in the foyer so that those who are not able to enter the meeting room are still able to hear the discussion clearly.
It is clear that at no time were any members of the public locked out of the meeting room on Sept. 22, and there were no closed doors of any kind. Every effort was made to ensure that everyone in the overflow crowd in the foyer could hear what was being said.
The steps outlined above will be taken to ensure that false allegations of this nature are never made again as they pertain to the public meetings of the Cumberland County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Joe Derella is the director of the Democrat-majority Cumberland County freeholder board.
