In Defense of Library Director Susan O’Neal’s Library Advocacy

Last Wednesday, July 17 there was a small group of 9 or so attendees at the meeting of the Middletown Library Board.   During public comments at the start of the meeting (time: 8:34), Middletown resident Elizabeth Mitchell spoke eloquently in support of Library Director Susan O’Neal’s advocacy for the library.

Ms. Mitchell addressed a number of the unreasonable criticisms in the news of late and provided clear thinking in their place. She spoke without any script and received ample applause from the small group of public attendees. Here's what she had to say:

"My name is Elizabeth Mitchell. I have lived in this township of Middletown since 1967. I was employed as an adjunct instructor at Monmouth University and for about 40 years as an English instructor at Ocean County College.

I am deeply concerned about the issues of FREE SPEECH which I have spoken on publicly and sometimes in very controversial situations throughout my career.

I have a high opinion of the library and the way that it has been run during my nearly entirely adult life in this township.

I do not like the tone of the kind of commentary that is coming from a certain Committeeman and it does not seem to be being responded to by the Trustees of the library. I guess in terms of the agenda what I would be speaking to is your mission statement and it seems extremely startling to me that anyone would expect the head of the library to be passive or to be unconcerned about issues that affect the funding of the library.

What would you think of a football coach whose team, let’s say it was a high school coach whose team fumbled and lost and did not go through proper training processes season after season and the coach said, “Well I’m an impartial person. I’m just you know in favor of athletics and I pride myself on my detachment from the whole concern.

I think that any public librarian much less the head of the library should receive a

HERO MEDAL for standing up for public funding for the library, for wanting open public records when it comes to shutting down branch libraries, who would communicate with people who might be concerned about the fate of the library.

I think that’s a VOCATION and you’re very lucky if you have someone who regards a job as a vocation. Some businessmen are like that, I mean they really want to serve the public. They don’t look at it simply like a cash transfer concern. The best doctors, the best teachers, have a big investment in the concerns that they are employed in and that is certainly true for a library.

I think we’re all dealing with a kind of stereotype of librarians that is terribly outdated. I mean I look at this report that came out I guess in the email of the Asbury Park Press. It says “Susan O’Neal played more than just a passive role in the library imbroglios”. Well let’s hope that its more than just a passive role! 

If the head of the library is unconcerned about the fate of the library, you’ve got a huge, huge, problem, and you should be supporting her to the max.

Now I do not have any personal connection with Susan O’Neal. I belong to a discussion group that meets monthly to discuss major books and the discussions there are focused on the books. I do not know any of the other people who have been involved in the issues that you’ve been discussing. But I think behind all of it is a terribly important principle that has to do with apparently not expecting leadership from the people that you’ve hired to be leaders. I mean it just seems, it seems incredible.

I’d like to make an analogy and this has to do with the statement that Susan O’Neal approved the closing of the branch libraries and then backed off from that. If you have a prisoner and you lock the prisoner in a cell and you gave him a choice between water or food and they choose water then would you accuse them of deliberately starving themselves to death? Because it seems to me that that is the kind of irrational logic that’s going on here that somebody who has their budget cut is then criticized for making decisions with what can be accomplished with a diminished budget.

I think it’s time for a wake-up call; I am really alarmed at what you are letting happen here."

Well said.

To see what else happened during the July 17th meeting of  the Middletown Library Board you can watch the video below, its run time is a little more than an hour long. A lot happened at the meeting that should be of interest to many, so take the time and watch it.



(Thanks go to M.E. for transcribing Ms. Mitchell's comment.)

11-14-12 Township Committee Meeting: Special Meeting to Discuss Hurricane Sandy

Last Wednesday the Middletown Township Committee called for a special meeting to discuss actions that the Township would take regarding the events surrounding the aftermath of super storm, Hurricane Sandy.

Shortly after the meeting opened the Committee entered into Executive Session to discuss hurricane relief efforts and emergency contracts.

During the public portion of the meeting a few residents asked for updates on the status of various relief efforts around town



You can find the agenda for both the Executive Session and the Public meeting .... HERE


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Tonight the Township Committee meet for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting, I will post the video as soon as it is available. At tonight's meeting I'm sure that more information pertaining to the relief efforts will be made public.

There seems to be no good reason NOT to air Township Committee meetings

The letter below, written by Middletown resident Paul Jansen, was sent to me accompanied by a link to the video below, showing Mr. Don Watson handing a DVD recording of various township meetings to Township Administrator Tony Mercantante, for airing on Middletown's public access cable channels, Comcast 20 and Verizon Fios 26.

Even though these recordings have been made by community volunteers, at no cost to the Township, Middletown's governing body refuses to add them the limited playlist that runs on its public access channels.

Many excuses have been made over the past few years as to why the township couldn't or wouldn't record these meeting on their own for public airing ranging from the cost of producing the recordings to the possibility of persons "grandstanding" for the cameras, to the possible cost of litigation due to persons being recorded without their consent.  None of these excuses however hold water.

If anyone has taken the time to watch one of these videos they can see that NO grandstanding has ever taken place (other than by Township Committee members themselves). No one has ever objected to being recorded, after all it is a public meeting and all comment are recorded already and it has been shown that these video can be made for little to no cost (provided for free).

So what's the issue?

There really isn't one other than the Township's governing body would rather keep the resident in the dark about how their town is run - No transparency equals uniformed voters who vote for the majority incumbents.

Editor,

In a recent article in the Asbury Park Press about the two candidates running for Middletown Township Committee, Committeeman Massell stated that airing township meetings would cost $100,000. This is untrue. A group of people led by Don Watson have been video recording township meetings for the last 9 months. Mr. Watson and other volunteers, myself included, have recorded Township Committee meetings, library board meetings, and sewerage authority board meetings, among other public meetings. At each Township Committee meeting Mr. Watson presents a DVD with the previous meeting. This DVD could be shown on the township's own municipal access television station viewable 24/7 on Comcast channel 20 or Verizon FIOS channel 26. The township refuses to show the meetings, even though the recordings are provided free and unedited.

Paul J Jansen
Middletown, NJ





At every Township Committee meeting since March, the Township has been presented with a digital copy of the previous Committee meeting. For years the Committee has provided every excuse they could think of to not video record meetings and make them available for public viewing. The latest reason was that it would cost the Township over $100K to do this and it was cost prohibitive.

A small group of residents, from all party affilliation and some with no affilliation, came together and purchased a camera to record these meetings. The recordings presented are now available for the public to request their own copy or watch over the Internet. This is the only avenue available because the Township Committee continues not to broadcast the recordings even though there is no cost to the Township in doing so.

Letter - Grenafege & Fowler Support Open Government and the Broadcasting Public Meetings

To the Editor,

Late one weekend night I was flipping t.v. channels to view my new expanded line-up, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a lively meeting of the Howell township committee. Enthralled, I watched for over 45 minutes. Howell's public service channel carries videotaped committee, planning and zoning meetings, repeated often and available for download.

My own township officials in Middletown adamantly refuse to offer videotaped meetings, which would be helpful for all, especially older people, workers, and people with disabilities. Are the officials fearful that they could not compete with :"Dancing with the Stars"? Committeeman Scharfenberger said that it would cost $100,000 to tape meetings, a gross exaggeration, then asserted that even at no cost he would not approve.

Candidates Jim Grenafege and Carol Fowler support open government, including videotaped meetings. It's time for a change in township committee members.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Schwebel
Leonardo, NJ

FYI - Middletown's Committee Meeting Moved To Thursday The 13th This Month

Here's an FYI for anyone who may be interested in attending this month's Township Committee meeting in Middletown this next week.

The regular meeting was scheduled for Monday night January 17th but because of a conflict with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on that date it was moved to the following day, Tuesday 18th.

Now comes word that the meeting has once again been rescheduled.

The next scheduled meeting of the Middletown Township Committee is Thursday of next week, the 13th.

There has been no word as of yet for reason behind the rescheduling. Below is the notice ethat is posted on the Township's website:

01/05/2011
January 18, 2011 Township Committee Meeting Rescheduled to Jan. 13, 2011
Notice is hereby given that an "Open Public Meeting" of the Township Committee of the Township of Middletown is CANCELLED for:

Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Time 7:00 PM Executive Session (Closed to the public)
8:00 PM Regular Meeting (Open to the public)
Place: Main Meeting Room
One Kings Highway
Middletown, NJ 07748

MEETING IS RESCHEDULED TO:

Date: Thursday, January 13, 2011
Time 7:00 PM Executive Session (Closed to the public)
8:00 PM Regular Meeting (Open to the public)
Place: Main Meeting Room
One Kings Highway
Middletown, NJ 07748

Please plan accordingly if you wish to attend.

It's Your Town Newsletter Volumn 2, Issue 13, 6/21/10: The Regularly Scheduled Meeting

As everyone now knows there were two scheduled Township Committee meetings on the night of June 21, 2010. The first meeting held was at 7pm and was for the introduction of the proposed Middletown Municipal budget. The second meeting that night was the regularly scheduled business meeting for the month.

You can read the latest newsletter >>>Here

The Committee passed a new recycling ordinance, ordinance 2010-3006, which now will require residents to separate corrugated cardboard and chip board (cereal boxes and the like).

There are links within the news letter that will jump readers to the referenced resolution or
ordinance. At the end of each is an underlined word which will jump you back to where you were. For the bill list, the link back is the page number, which can be found in the top right corner of the page.

This newsletter is rather extensive and all of the resolution and ordinances can be referenced
on the Township website, in the Clerk's Corner.

Monmouth Freeholders' Meetings Today: Democrats in Control

Today the first regularly scheduled Monmouth County Freeholder Meetings of the year take place. This is of significance to people that care because it marks the first time in 23 years that Democrats will reign over the board.  If anyone has time today they should go down to Freehold to check out the proceedings.

Below is a link to todays agenda and meeting times: 

The January 8, 2009 (Thursday) Monmouth County Freeholder Meeting
Agenda is available online for both the work and regular sessions. Click on this
link to view all agendas: http://co.monmouth.nj.us/freeholdersagenda/

Freeholders' Work Session Meeting
2:00 P.M.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009
FREEHOLDERS’ MEETING ROOM
1 EAST MAIN STREET
HALL OF RECORDS, FREEHOLD, NJ

Freeholders' Regular Public Meeting
7:00 P.M.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009
FREEHOLDERS’ MEETING ROOM
1 EAST MAIN STREET
HALL OF RECORDS, FREEHOLD, NJ