Brigantine Citizens Ask for Transparency

It’s getting a little tougher to do backroom deals and keep public information…hidden…. in Brigantine. You can thank this crazy contraption called the Internet for that. Attendees at Brigantine City Council meetings have been asking for documents, video and other public info to be shared in a timely manner. Seems like a fair request.

Click through to watch video clips where a Brigantine taxpayer respectfully corners our digitally deficient….elected officials. You’ll love how our Brigantine City Manager tap dances her way through an explanation that would make an ‘Obamacare’ website designer proud.

Has the city improved in the area of sharing vital information?  A little. But not much. Take a look at this Brigantine Hurricane Sandy story from last year. A major storm, and our elected officials dropped the ball.

Today, Brigantine City Council is still filled with those who admit fear and un-familiarity with common, inexpensive communications tools like Email, Websites, Facebook and YouTube. It’s seems they’re OK with that. Well, it’s not OK with those who live & pay taxes in Brigantine. Many depend on quick communication from our city leaders.

Is it really OK for the city webmaster to be over 2 months behind in posting simple documents to a confusing city website?

Thanks for NOT doing your simple job, well-paid city employee.

Brigantine BB-NJ City Council FAIL
From BB-NJ.com website. Oct 23, 2013.

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3 thoughts on “Brigantine Citizens Ask for Transparency”

  1. Once again it seems that Brigantine Now and some citizens are suffering from a case of ‘selected amnesia.’ The Brigantine City Government is more open now than it has been in the last 30 years as yes, much of that is because of the Internet and yes, it is getting harder to make ‘backroom’ deals. However, whatever complaints Brigantine Now and some citizens may have with the ‘transparency’ of the current administration are nothing compared to the previous administrations which ruled only by backroom deals, nepotism and public committees with pre-determined outcomes.

    And one other issue: The Brigantine Beach city web site is distributing more information than at any point in time in it’s existence. It wasn’t until 2009 or so that the agenda for the city council meetings was even made available to the public prior to council meetings. It was after 2010 that not only council meetings minutes were posted but RFPs as well at least creating the impression that contract work on Brigantine wasn’t a ‘rigged’ process. Also, again it was the previous administration that voted to increase the response time for OPRA requests from 7 to 30 days. It was a 6 to 1 vote with then 4th ward councilman Pullella voting against it.

    Could Brigantine Now at least attempt to get the facts straight? You do a great service but only if you are giving the facts.

  2. Hi Gary, I agree with some, but not all items you mention. We appreciate your input tho. Indeed, things are a BIT better. We do attempt to get the facts straight, but too often, those facts are tough to come by. Thus, we remind everyone that we are only ONE voice / ONE perspective…of many. We don’t claim to be all knowing. Gary, we welcome any facts that you, and anyone else can share. No matter what side you come down on…on any given issue. 🙂

    Wow. Response time for OPRA requests increased from 7 to 30 days? Geez. A lot of stuff can happen in 30 days.

    If Tony P. did vote to keep it at 7 days…well then…I applaud Mr. Pullella for that.

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