This makes me wonder

This makes me wonder! After decades, make that scores of years of covering board of education meetings, council meetings, zoning and planning board meetings, and so many other meetings where decisions are made for the good of the public, I do wonder about a lot of things. Primarily, I wonder about the things that aren’t talked about. I wonder why some elected officials prefer to chat with other officials, or with businesses in their towns, on their own e-mails, rather than the official borough e-mail. I wonder why residents can’t always get answers to questions without having to file an OPRA to get what should be….and used to be….a simple response. I wonder why some government leaders are called into private meetings with businesspeople, yet others are not. I wonder why ordinances are introduced one year, only to be changed a year or two later. Don’t elected officials know all these things cost money? I’m not only talking about advertising costs, but attorney fees, administrative time, so many things. I wonder why appointments on commissions and committees are left vacant rather than being filled so there’s always assurance a quorum will be present for every meeting. Indeed, many things make me wonder. That’s what made me a reporter all those years ago. And what keeps me asking questions today.

Wednesday’s Highlands Council meeting went smoothly, politely, courteously, and an awful lot was accomplished in a short time. But whoever takes care of their virtual technology should be fired and someone who knows enough about it to be fair to the public should run the virtual meetings. This is old stuff, now, so professionals in this borough should know at least as much as the persons in every other municipality who are conducting their meetings via zoom. Of course they can show everyone of the elected officials’ and paid professionals’ smiling faces throughout the entire meeting, not just when they’re talking. And of course they can turn the camera off of everyone from the public who speaks so that they, as the Mayor said, who come to the meeting virtually and are eating, drinking, or lying in bed or scantily clad, are not seen. (I’ve never seen that, guess I’ll have to look more closely!) It just sounds like the Mayor either doesn’t like to see the people she represents, or doesn’t want the people she and the other four represent to see them other than when they’re talking. Or both. Whichever it is, it certainly isn’t friendly and certainly insulting to those, and I presume that’s the majority, who want to know what’s going on and come to the meeting not drinking, not eating, not lying in bed and not scantily clad. Equally insulting is not requiring, or thinking to require, a report from every professional to be read at every meeting. Councilwoman Linda Mazzola said it right when she said they work hard, they do great things, and their actions and activities are truly the business of the public. Wonderful to see Councilman Don Melnyk immediately agree and call for a change in that policy, which, to their credit, they are going to do. Ms Mazzola was also right in questioning why the borough is so eager to simply hand over $10000 to the Business Partnership without seeing whether any insurance…the borough’s or the BPP’s….would cover any part of it. If it was negligence, which is debatable, doesn’t the borough have any policy that covers them for that? Why wouldn’t storm damage cover it for the BPP? The idea that they will settle a $10,000 feud under what both the mayor and attorney apparently are guaranteed would cost them $20,000 to fight is equally ludicrous. Ms Mazzola suggested showing that community spirit and letting the people do something to help raise the money Her idea is if it be necessary to shell out $10,000 rather than simply putting yet another bill on the shoulders of the taxpayers why not a fund raiser, a community event people could enjoy. That shows a great sense of thinking outside the box while drawing people together. There were certainly odd bedfellows during the public portion, with not one, but three different people, who don’t usually agree on much as one said, asking who you have to know to get away with things or take advantage of things in Highlands. Captain’s Cove raises its ugly head again. Or still. Cheers also for the resident who keeps minutes from meetings of years ago so she can correct statements made at public meetings about expenditures back then. Oh, maybe it was a typo, like the 2020 deadline for filing an application for that confidential clerk to the Mayor and Administrator position. That same resident also cited a fascinating local law neither the attorney nor the council seemed to know about.