>I chair the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project and thought that your blog’s readers might be interested to know of my plan to gather up ALL the Village Council’s meeting minutes, including work sessions, regular meetings, special meetings and closed meeting, from July 1, 2008 through to September 30, 2009 and put them on-line. I’m doing this because the Village’s web site is not up to date and I believe that citizens should have ready access to the Village Council’s meeting minutes. (Note, this matter has already been reported in the Ridgewood News.)
I put the minutes that I have gathered so far, plus a table that shows which ones I’m still seeking access to, on the Internet at
https://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/RidgewoodMinutes.pdf
Also, I learned that the Village is improperly suppressing minutes from public meetings held as early as March 2009 and executive meetings held as early as November 2008. Since the Sen. Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act requires meeting minutes to made “promptly available,” I have notified the Mayor and Council that I will file suit unless they discuss the matter at their October 28, 2009 meeting and agree to make substantial changes to their minute release policy by October 30, 2009. My letter to the Mayor and Council, that contains a draft of the lawsuit I intend on filing, is on the Internet at
https://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/RidgewoodLawsuitThreat.pdf
If you would like more information, contact me at 732-873-1251.
John Paff
Somerset, New Jersey
