As the Township Committee refuses to return to in-person meetings, claiming they are not needed for citizen involvement, data shows meetings now are noticeably shorter and public participation is sharply reduced under the virtual format.
An Asbury Park Press analysis of township committee meeting minutes found that in the four years prior to the Covid-19 shutdown of 2020, meetings averaged 55 minutes and included public comments and questions from an average of six people per meeting.
In the four years since Covid-19 restricted the township committee to virtual-only gatherings after 2020, the meetings have averaged 20 minutes and less than one public comment per meeting.
In 2024, for example, 12 meetings were held, averaging 21 minutes but only five included any public comments or questions at all, with most of those limited to one or two residents offering input.
In contrast, the last four in-person meetings that were held in the first weeks of 2020 just before the pandemic hit the United States in full force averaged 38 minutes long and four public comments each. Two of those meetings included six public inquiries, each on a variety of issues.
“In person meetings have a value, they provide upfront interaction with the people they represent. It allows more direct participation and provides nuance that can’t be seen or observed or happen when you are on a webinar,” said Marc Pfeiffer, a senior policy fellow at the Bloustein Local Government Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University. “In person requires a little more formality. It requires a better sense of decorum, which is representative of the official nature of what is going on.”