Selectmen Approve Remote Meeting Participation Effective Jan. 3

Committee and board members in Wayland will be permitted to participate remotely in meetings beginning Jan. 3, 2012.

Wayland’s Board of Selectmen Monday night approved the measure, which was added to the state’s Open Meeting Law guidelines by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in early November.

“The purpose of these new regulations is to promote greater participation in government, while upholding the main purpose of the Open Meeting Law – transparency,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley in a press release. “While in certain extenuating circumstances members of public bodies are permitted to participate remotely, we encourage physical attendance when at all possible.”

The guidelines allow remote participation under five conditions: personal illness, personal disability, emergency, military service or geographic distance (such as a business trip or vacation).

“I know there’s a lot of interest in [remote participation among] Wayland boards,” Town Administrator Fred Turkington said, pointing out that, for example, remote participation would alleviate the problem of scheduling summer meetings around every member’s vacation plans.

According to the guidelines, each town’s chief executive officer, in Wayland’s case that is the Board of Selectmen, has the option of approving the use of remote participation in meetings of the Town's public bodies. Each individual committee can determine the form of participation -- audio conference, Skype or another means.

In the end, selectmen unanimously approved remote participation, but they did so with some reservations.

Selectmen John Bladon said he had two chief concerns, the first of which was abuse of the process.

“It’s the abusers I worry most about,” Bladon said, pointing out that he’d seen members of boards already miss multiple meetings and simply call in to listen and comment. Prior to these guidelines, those call-in members were not permitted to vote.

Town Administrator Fred Turkington assured selectmen that the language of the guidelines indicates remote participation should be treated “as the exception, not the rule.”

According to the AG’s guidelines, everyone at the meeting must be able to hear the person participating remotely. In other words, a simple speakerphone may not be enough for a board member to be heard by everyone in the audience. If, during a meeting, any resident in attendance says he or she cannot hear, the remote participation is invalid – the board member can continue to listen and comment, but cannot vote.

Bladon said the technology needed for remote participation was his second concern.

According to Turkington, however, the phone system and equipment is scheduled to undergo an upgrade in the coming months anyway.

“We will invest in some equipment for each of the meeting rooms … to make it more likely that people would be able to utilize it when they’re away,” Turkington said.

Selectmen approved remote participation but also said they want to revisit the issue in June 2012 to determine whether it is being used appropriately. According to the AG’s guidelines, a town authority that authorizes remote participation can revoke it at any time.

“There are people who do travel for work,” said Selectmen Joe Nolan. ”You don’t want anyone participating remotely as a rule. I wouldn’t anticipate abuse. I anticipate it being used judiciously.”

An announcement on the Town website said town board and committee members interested in the new guidelines can attend a brief Q&A session on Dec. 12 at 6:15 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room at the Town Building.