We tend to think of our local elected officials and appointed town leaders as thinking, talking and breathing town issues 24/7. But the truth is that their town positions are part-time, unpaid gigs, and these guys — and gals — have day jobs that not only pay the bills but absorb scads of their time.

Jerry Ryan has been serving on the Maplewood Planning Board and/or the Township Committee for the better part of the past 20 years. He was even Mayor of Maplewood for a time. Besides having an exhaustive knowledge of the history of town politics and a keen interest in Maplewood's planning, engineering and recreation issues and more, Ryan is full-time tech geek.

Until last December, Ryan — who studied electrical engineering at Cooper Union — was a Senior Software Manager at Motorola, where he most recently worked on the Droid RAZR. He's currently looking for interesting work.

Larry Seltzer is Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and has spent hours in hearings honing his expertise on town codes, zoning laws and arcane things like decibel measurement. But by day, he's the editorial director of Byte, once an illustrious print magazine and now an online media outlet examining the consumerization of information technology.

Recently, the two men put their heads together and Ryan produced a story for Byte about a new device for videoconferencing without a computer desktop or laptop. You can read the story here.

What are the implications for the town? More videoconferenced committee meetings? Impenetrable geek talk for non-techies at town meetings? Parking apps?

To stay on top of things, follow Seltzer on twitter @lseltzer and Ryan @gwryan.