Princeton To Resume In-Person Council Meetings, Zoom Option Remains

PRINCETON, NJ — Council will resume in-person meetings beginning Sept. 12, while providing a Zoom option. The resolution was adopted during Monday’s Council meeting.

The in-person meetings will be held in the main meeting room at the Witherspoon Hall Municipal Building. Although there is a Zoom option available, spotty internet connections could cause issues and the best way to participate would be attending the meetings, Council said.

The meetings will be primarily noticed as in-person, but the Zoom component will be available to those who want to participate from home.

Councilwoman Eve Niedergang told the public that the health department has a known procedure in place that will allow a switch to virtual in case of an emergency, in this case rising COVID-19 numbers or monkeypox.

“We had a trial run-through of the technology, and everything looked and sounded good, Niedergang said.

There was extensive discussion on the topic which began on July 11. Councilwoman Mia Sacks was concerned about losing civic engagement if the meetings moved in person.

With municipal meetings easily accessible online, the participation numbers in Princeton increased during the past two years.

“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 had said.

With the Council adopting the hybrid model, they hope public participation continues to be high.

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