Belvidere Town Council voted down guidelines for video recording of meetings after a councilman threatened to quit if it passed.

Council President Harold Hess said he considered videos "entertainment" and did not agree to be filmed when he took his oath of office.

"People get paid millions of dollars for that," he said of filming, "they're called movie stars."

Doug Beaney, of BelvidereGreen.com, pitched his plan to film council meetings nearly three months ago.

Town council said it wanted time to research the request, despite town attorney Dominick Santini saying the law was clear on the subject. He said there was no legal way they could stop Beaney from filming, according to a state Supreme Court case.

Citizen bloggers already film meetings in Alpha, Greenwich Township and Phillipsburg.

Still, Beaney waited to get the OK from council.

A set of guidelines, which would have required council members to get a copy of the video and limited it to one videographer a meeting, were established last month and agreed to by Beaney.

Councilwoman Laurel Napolitani questioned Hess' reasoning.

"So, again, somebody could walk in here two weeks from this evening and start to video," she said, "but we're wiser to have guidelines in place."

Hess said he was not opposed to making audio files online but was motivated to "draw the line" with video.

Only Councilman Howard Thompson voted for the guidelines.

"When we become candidates to hold office, we open our lives to political attack one way or another," he said. "... I think the citizens in Belvidere have the right, who can't get here ... to watch it on a computer."

Beaney said after the vote he would begin filming soon.

"Welcome to the 21st century, Victorian style," he said in a speech during public comments.

Beaney said he found it ironic that the discussion came up so close to Independence Day. He said the council missed the point with his intention -- video taping would be for the benefit of the public, not them.

"You can't fear the silent majority," he said.

Earlier in the day, Phillipsburg resident Blaine Fehley, one of the first in the region to put meetings online, said he often gets residents telling him to "keep it up."

He said those most appreciative of his videos are people too busy to make it to council meetings and elderly residents who do not travel much.

Fehley said he gets views as far away as Russia and China, although he is unsure why.

He said his digital records are a better record of local government than meeting minutes, which can be just summaries.

"Video recordings provide more transparency," he said.

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Grab some popcorn

- Alpha: alphacouncilmeetings.com

- Belvidere (Coming soon): www.belvideregreen.com

- Greenwich Township: greenwichlivevideo.com

- Phillipsburg: phillipsburgraw.com