Amid High Civic Engagement Princeton Mulls Return To In-Person Meeting

PRINCETON, NJ — In the COVID-19 era, municipalities across the country have had to change the way they run local government.

One of the most distinct changes came in the form of virtual meetings, that allowed residents to tune in via video conferencing. But as the state’s emergency orders for the pandemic fall away, Princeton is mulling a return to in-person meetings.

However, there are still concerns over the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and officials are looking for ways to conduct public meetings with safety in mind.

Councilwoman Eve Niedergang asked if it was possible to move between in-person and virtual gatherings “automatically” based on the COVID-19 numbers and proposed that Council start in-person meetings on Sept. 12.

Municipal attorney Trishka Cecil said an automatic shift was not possible as the public would have to be given ample notice of a change in the meeting venue.

“We are light years from where we were when we first had to go to remote,” Health Officer Jeff Grosser said. “So now we know, from a community transmission perspective, when we probably should think about either going remote or having a hybrid option to keep people comfortable with still attending the meetings.”

The possibility of having a hybrid schedule exists, but it was just a matter of fine-tuning it for the notices so that residents know of the changes, Grosser said.

One of the biggest concerns for Councilwoman Mia Sacks was losing civic engagement. With municipal meetings easily accessible online, the participation numbers in Princeton increased during the past two years.

“The Zoom option has enabled us to have much greater civic participation. We regularly have 80, 90, or 100 plus people in our meetings. I know that when we go back in person, it will go back to being probably 3-7 people,” Sacks said.

The Councilwoman said that many Princeton families were able to engage with the civic process for the first time due to virtual meetings. “I don't want the public to think that we are less interested in civic engagement, or that there's any sort of retreat from public participation.”

Sacks called for finding a way to continue to have residents participate conveniently in meetings.

Councilman Leighton Newlin especially took note of the elderly who might find it difficult to walk or find transportation to attend in-person meetings.

“I think it is very healthy that we do all that we can to have as many participants attend our meetings as possible,” Newlin said.

Councilman David Cohen suggested a trial and test run for hybrid meetings to see how the technology held up.

Mayor Mark Freda said that Princeton’s IT staff has done a great job at putting together the necessary equipment to host a hybrid meeting.

Freda however suggested starting the meetings sooner than later. "I think doing it over a few meetings in the summer where agendas might be a little bit lighter, just in case there's a hiccup, it gives you a little more time to recover from it,” he said.

Council decided to continue the discussion and possibly adopt a resolution during the July 25 meeting.

What do you think about Princeton’s plan to move to in-person or hybrid? Would you continue with civic engagement? Let us know in the comments below.

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