County freeholders to hold meeting in Burlington Township on Wednesday
By Danielle Camilli Staff writer, Burlington County Times | Posted: Monday, June 24, 2013 3:09 pm
MOUNT HOLLY — As promised earlier this year, the Burlington County Board of Freeholders is taking its show on the road.
The regularly scheduled conference and public meetings on Wednesday will be held at the Burlington Township Municipal Building on Old York Road. The public meeting will start at 7 p.m. A portion of the 5 p.m. conference meeting will also be open to the public. The rest will be held in executive session.
The road show is part of the county’s efforts to be more transparent, including increasing accessibility to and participation in the freeholder meetings. The monthly meetings are normally held at the county administration building on Rancocas Road in the county seat.
Officials said this is the first in a series of off-site meetings. Others will be scheduled later this year.
“We want to make sure that all of our residents have the opportunity to be a part of county government,” Freeholder Director Joseph Donnelly said. “Taking meetings to different parts of the county will give folks an opportunity to attend meetings in their hometowns.”
While it’s the first meeting on the road, the county has been working to be more user-friendly for several months. For example, it is now posting videos of freeholder meetings on its regularly updated website, http://www.co.burlington.nj.us.There, residents can find agendas and meeting minutes, as well as the county budget and other documents for review. The county’s $184.2 million budget was introduced June 12, and a public hearing will be held July 10 when the board returns to Mount Holly for the July public meeting.
In addition, the county now has a presence on social media, having recently launched its Facebook page, where it posts upcoming events, emergency alerts, and other items of interest to residents.
Donnelly said the Facebook page allows residents to receive important updates instantly.
“Hopefully, this entree into social media will give more residents a front-row seat to county business and an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about programs and services,” he said. Since joining Facebook, the county has garnered more than 1,600 likes.
Also, the county’s “transparency” Web page will be launched this week. It will offer key documents, lists of municipal recreation grants, meeting minutes and election results. The link will be posted on the current county website.
“Most if not all of this data can already be found on the website, but it takes some searching to find it,” Donnelly said. “Putting all these documents in one location just makes it easier for everyone. Best of all, this page will be a work in progress, as the list of documents is expanded over time.”