Government meetings here are notable for organic audience-committee interaction that transcends Roberts’ Rules of Order.

Sometimes, that setup informs and expedites government decisions better than a by-the-book approach would. In more contentious matters, it can spawn chaos.

The door swung both ways Tuesday night at a 75-minute Township Committee meeting during which the public discussion period was mostly about Mayor William Kennedy.

The mayor heard several enthusiastic defenses, an even more enthusiastic attack and a measured reconciliation after two weeks of being accused of assaulting a resident and threatening public defender Ernest Aponte, whose resignation was accepted at the meeting.

Last week, Aponte told a reporter Kennedy promised “consequences” if the township resident spoke in his capacity as a private citizen at a town meeting again. But he sounded ready to move Tuesday night.

“I think you’re a good man,” Aponte told Kennedy and the audience. “I believe that certain mistakes were made. Do I think there was malice and forethought? No.”

“Ernie, you know my door’s always open to you,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy’s fiercest critic was Karl Kruger, who rose from his seat next to Louis Vitale – the man who says Kennedy grabbed and shoved him at the May 12 school board meeting – to take the podium. Kennedy has filed a harassment complaint against Vitale, and both men are due in Folsom court next month.

Kennedy pressed his fingers together as Kruger castigated him for his stated willingness to have the township furnish his legal defense. “Your sense of entitlement is only outdone by your lack of articulation,” Kruger read from a prepared statement.

Kennedy grabbed and tapped his gavel only when Kruger began criticizing committee member Janet Forman for her support of Kennedy and for a legal issue of her own. “Keep it to me,” he warned.

“You can’t silence me,” Kruger replied, before beginning a sentence with, “Larry Angel did more for this town …”

The reference to the recently deceased local gadfly drew groans from the crowd, and when Kruger strode back to his seat, a cacophony of voices erupted from committee members and attendees. The meeting did not proceed until Lt. Paul Register of the Mullica Police Department told Kruger he’d be ejected if he kept speaking from his seat.

“You look like a fool,” Kennedy told Kruger.

Fire Chief Anthony Tomasco highlighted Kennedy’s three decades of volunteer firefighting.

“We should be thanking him, and not bashing him in the head,” Tomasco said. He attributed coverage of Kennedy to what he saw as The Press of Atlantic City’s penchant for negative news.

Earlier, the committee hashed out an understanding with rescue-squad members who were unhappy that the township would consider merging its squad with Egg Harbor City’s if a pending feasibility study suggested that. For 10 minutes, volunteers explained why they doubted such a move would help the township, and committee members either agreed with them or emphasized they were not bound to any result of the study.

After Aponte told his neighbors, “We have to get along,” and sat down, Forman got his attention. Now that everyone was happy with each other, Forman said dryly, “are you going to stop telling people I stole from your property?” She told Aponte to stop accusing her of the act during public meetings if he hadn’t filed a police report.

“You took my (campaign) signs and threw them in the trash,” Aponte said. “If you want to sue me for defamation, go ahead. That’s America.”

To e-mail Eric Scott Campbell at The Press:

ECampbell@pressofac.com