‘Til we meet again

On any given day, Middlesex Borough’s community Facebook pages serve as a forum on what’s right and wrong about municipal government and the Board of Education. In years gone by, prior to the internet age, constituents might instead attend public meetings to ask questions, raise objections or collect information.

These days, community members are increasingly inclined to forego opportunities for face-to-face dialogue with their local officials. Now, there are also fewer opportunities for that interaction.

The mayor and Borough Council quietly adopted a new meeting schedule at their January reorganization session. Other than January and March, the municipal governing body now convenes only once per month the rest of the year. The council moved to one monthly session due to the typical brevity of its meetings. Officials opted to consolidate a month’s two brief sessions into one that is slightly longer.

The school board meets twice each month, but on back-to-back evenings, under a schedule it has adhered to in recent years. Under the original 2026 schedules adopted by the board and council, the two panels would meet on the same night for four of the six months in the year’s second half.

Alerted to the situation several weeks ago, the council eliminated the scheduling conflict in two of the year’s remaining months. The council moved its August and October sessions to a different night from the school board.

Does any of this really matter in the new era of civic engagement or lack of it? Other than audience members who come to witness a special presentation or award, the respective meetings of Middlesex’s school board and council tend to draw the same 10 or so constituents each month. That number is typically dwarfed by internet viewership.

Both the board and council livestream meetings and/or post video online.  You don’t even need to watch the session as it occurs. It can be picked up the next day or after that. As of this past weekend, video of the board’s most recent meeting had a bit more than 150 views. The council’s most recent session had close to 40. Those meetings occurred on June 16.

While the internet exposes more constituents to a meeting over time, it could be argued that something is being lost. Across four decades in journalism, I’ve seen large crowds numerous times convince a council or board to halt an intended action. 

The most recent instance was in Warren Township several years ago. A brewing proposal to redevelop the former Chubb Insurance property near Interstate 78 into a modern distribution center got stopped by community opposition. Opponents feared the distribution center’s traffic would overwhelm the surrounding neighborhood. A lawsuit filed by the former Chubb site’s owner ensued. Eventually, the tract was purchased by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for use as a much-less-intrusive cash services center.

Would the distribution center have been stopped, if opponents weighed in only over social media? Probably not. The audience’s anger level was staggering at one particular meeting. Hard to believe that emotion could have been effectively conveyed by words on a computer screen.

No one likes paying increased property taxes, but Middlesex homeowners have been blasé on the topic, as far a making their voices heard in public.

Both Middlesex Borough governmental bodies held budget hearings this spring, offering opportunities for constituents to opine on the respective spending plans. Each calls for a 7% tax increase. Neither hearing spurred any taxpayer pleas to scale back the intended hikes. At both meetings, audience members commented about other topics.

There was no constituent sentiment voiced that the increases might be excessive. That’s the only way to halt or reduce intended tax hikes. Complaining via social media once new tax bills arrive in August will be too late. The decision-making is done. 

Middlesex’s tendency for low meeting attendance isn’t unique. It reflects the current dynamic in much of the country.

The online Journal of Democracy, the world’s leading publication on the topic, examined growing voter disinterest with local government in an article published in 2022. It found that local governments and boards make decisions that directly impact their constituents on quality of life issues, taxation and public safety. 

Low attendance at local meetings, the journal found, related to several factors. National politics tends to draw more attention than what occurs at the local municipal building. One reason is the decline in local journalism. Newspapers and even local cable television outlets tend not to cover municipal and school board meetings unless there is a raging controversy or truly unusual issue.

An article published in Governing magazine a dozen years ago reported that only 19% of Americans contacted a local official over a 12-month period, while only 22% reported attending a town council meeting. It seems likely that today, in 2026, those numbers would undoubtedly be lower.

(Copyright 2026 Dave Polakiewicz. All Rights Reserved)

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