Fitzpatrick Measure to Adjust Freeholder Meeting Times to be Approved

Convenient Meeting Time Would Allow More Residents to Attend Freeholder Meetings

Freeholder-At-Large Caren Fitzpatrick won the confidence of the people of Atlantic County by promising transparency and accessibility to the people, and less than one year after taking on the role, she has once again delivered on these promises. Starting in February, the Freeholder Board has agreed to hold one meeting a month for the following six months at a start time of 6:00 p.m., allowing more people of the county to attend and get involved in the governing process. Currently, Freeholder Board meetings are at 4:00 p.m., an inconvenient time for most Atlantic County residents.

"I'm glad we were able to get a more convenient meeting time on the schedule. Atlantic County residents deserve access to their County governing body." Said Freeholder Fitzpatrick.

Freeholder Fitzpatrick has done copious amounts of research on this topic, researching the meetings times of all of the municipalities and examining the best practices of other counties within New Jersey. The Atlantic County Democratic Committee wholeheartedly supports the efforts of Freeholder Fitzpatrick in order to bring the county government to more people, including through changing the time and locations of the meetings.

While some Republican members of the Freeholder Board dismissed the idea, the ACDC and Freeholder Fitzpatrick believe that Atlantic County citizens want to partake in their county government but lacked the time, as the meetings were previously held during times that most residents were at work. By pushing the meeting time back, and allowing municipalities to host the Freeholder Board, we believe this will encourage the people of Atlantic County to have their voice heard by their elected representatives.