Sussex County freeholder board meetings would be videotaped starting in January under the proposal.
NEWTON -- The Sussex County freeholder board is poised to end a long-running controversy by agreeing to videotape its meetings.
Under a resolution up for a vote Wednesday, the county's IT department would do the recordings and post links within two days of meetings.
Copies would be mailed to media organizations, with DVDs available via requests under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).
Videotaping meetings had been sought since the spring by outgoing Freeholder Richard Vohden, but drew opposition from three of the other four freeholders on the all-Republican board.
Vohden, a freeholder since 2011, did not seek a third term and Wednesday will be his final meeting on the board.
He will remain a member of the New Jersey Highlands Council, to which he was nominated by Gov. Chris Christie and confirmed in 2012 by the State Senate.
Vohden told NJ Advance Media on Saturday that, while planning to vote for the videotaping resolution, he will seek to change a provision requiring a review, by April 1, of the "costs and feasibility" of the program.
Vohden said that is not be enough time to reach a fair assessment.
"Give it a chance," he said.
The videotaping of meetings is expected to begin in January.
Freeholder Director George Graham, often at odds with Vohden, said he objected to Vohden's proposal initially because he considered it "grandstanding from him" on the issue.
Graham, though, said on Saturday he is satisfied with the proposed videotaping format.
"It's a fixed-camera system," Graham said.
"This is going to be like you're in the room -- not zooming in, not playing one person against another," Graham said.
Boosting access to public meetings, either via audiotape or videotape, has prompted discussion in the New Jersey Legislature.
In 2015, bills that would have expanded OPRA and the Open Public Meetings Act to promote additional tapings were discussed in committees but never went to a full vote in either chamber.
There is nothing in state law that prohibits members of the public from doing their own recordings. A 2007 decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a common-law right to do such recordings exists, subject to "reasonable restrictions."
Wednesday's meeting of the Sussex County freeholder board will begin at 9 a.m.
Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.