Lights, camera — action!

Lights, camera — action!

Like many proposals in government, support for taping Township Council meetings has at times waned and at other times been feverish.

Right now, it seems most of the governing body is in favor of taping the meetings and broadcasting them on Brick’s Channel 20. The Brick Bulletin would like to see this idea come to fruition for the benefit of the community.

In Brick and most New Jersey municipalities, it tends to be many of the same people who come out to council meetings. Here in Brick, public meetings start at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays — which, under normal circumstances, may be convenient for people who get home from work at 5 p.m. But we all know the world doesn’t work that way. The boss wants you to stay late; there’s traffic; there are kids to take to soccer or ballet practice.

Most residents like to know what’s going on in their town, but only a handful really have the time to attend a council meeting. By televising the meetings, the council would be providing another service to its residents. Instead of hearing about new ordinances or uproarious discussions secondhand, residents can see what happens at the meetings for themselves.

And with election season heating up, it’s important to point out that the more residents who know about how their government is run, the more likely they are to come out to vote. Brick Township doesn’t have any council seats up for election this year, but the mayoral race will take place next year. As Councilman Fred Underwood said last week, televising the meetings would allow more residents to see how their town is run — and then they can make an educated decision on what they want to change or what they want to stay the same.

It’s true that cameras sometimes bring out the worst in people. We all know of those people who love to hear themselves talk and put on a show. But that’s what rules are for. If, or hopefully when, council meetings hit the airwaves, it will be up to the council president to keep the residents, and the council members, in line.

The important thing is to set the ball in motion. Township Council members should resume researching the cost of televising meetings now, before they’re too deep into the budget process.

Let’s move forward with this idea ... and let the cameras roll.