Lindenwold Borough Council meets on September 9, 2026.

LINDENWOLD (SBN) — The Lindenwold Borough Council has settled a lawsuit filed by a resident who was prevented from videotaping council meetings.

At its September 9 meeting, the council passed a resolution authorizing the settlement of the lawsuit filed by Alfonso Penna, who regularly records council meetings with his cell phone.

Under pressure from the lawsuit, the council in August rescinded the recording policy, adopted in January, permitting only one person to videotape council meetings.

At the time of its adoption, the policy was immediately criticized by First Amendment advocates and several news media outlets.

Penna filed the lawsuit in July challenging the policy after police prevented him from recording a meeting. The settlement includes payment of $15,000 in legal fees for Penna’s attorneys, high-profile First Amendment lawyers Iris Bromberg and CJ Griffin of the Pashman Stein Walder Hayden law firm, Hackensack, NJ.

In the lawsuit, Penna argued that the policy violated the New Jersey Constitution, the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), and the public’s common-law right to record government proceedings.

Penna’s lawsuit pointed out that a local community group called Love Lindenwold routinely recorded meetings and took the single available slot, the policy effectively blocked any other independent citizen or journalist from recording.

State Broadcast News has requested comment on the settlement from Penna and Lindenwold Mayor Richard E. Roach Jr., but has not heard back. This story will be updated if we receive comments from them.

Home

About

Lindenwold Council settles litigation over ill-advised public recording guidelines