MONTAGUE — The Selectboard has decided to relocate this year’s Annual Town Meeting to the Turners Falls High School gymnasium, rather than the usual location in the auditorium, to allow for better social distancing amid the current health crisis.
The pandemic has left town officials to rethink how to safely hold Town Meeting, which has been rescheduled to June 13 from its usual time in early May. The Selectboard weighed a range of options, from holding the meeting as usual in the school auditorium, to the legally and logistically complicated route of holding the meeting remotely via video conference.
“I certainly would prefer to do things the way we’ve done them for 100 or more years,” said Selectboard Chair Rich Kuklewicz during the board’s May 4 meeting.
Holding Town Meeting in the gym has been seen by the Selectboard as something of a compromise between the usual auditorium and an outdoor meeting under a tent. It allows for social distancing, but also has air conditioning and provides more protection from the elements.
A survey of Town Meeting voters conducted by Town Hall influenced the Selectboard’s thinking on relocating, but did not determine the decision. The survey was sent by mail and email to 94 people, including all Town Meeting members and a number of town government department heads. According to Town Administrator Steve Ellis, of the 57 respondents, 50 percent supported holding Town Meeting in the auditorium; 60 percent supported holding it in a large tent in a field; and 74 percent were favorable to holding Town Meeting remotely via video conference.
Last week, the Senate approved a bill that allows representative Town Meetings — such as Montague’s — to meet remotely, as part of a package of new rules addressing municipal governance challenges in the coronavirus crisis. The Montague Selectboard told Montague’s state representative Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, in April that it supported the basic idea of at least allowing a remote Town Meeting.
However, the board has expressed reservations toward the idea of a remote Town Meeting. Though Kuklewicz said he knows a company that coordinates online meetings of perhaps hundreds or thousands of people, board members have agreed that at least some Town Meeting voters would have technical problems trying to participate. Additionally, the board noted a remote meeting would seem to lend itself less to debates and exchanges among voters.
Thus, the Selectboard was inclined against a remote meeting, though Ellis noted the survey results might be taken to mean that a remote meeting would be most likely to draw a quorum of voters. The Turners Falls High School gym was not in the survey because the board didn’t think of it until after the survey had been distributed.
Novel safety measures for Town Meeting are now being considered. The aim is not only to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak, but also to inspire confidence in voters that they can safely attend Town Meeting, Ellis said.
Voters will likely be asked to wear face coverings, and the town will probably provide disposable masks at the door, the Selectboard said, speaking with Turners Falls Fire Chief John Zellmann last week. Voters will also probably have their temperatures taken at the entrance.
During its May 4 meeting, the Selectboard was unsure what the legal options might be for isolating a person who may have a fever in a way so that they can still participate in Town Meeting.
“I’d hate to have somebody come in with a fever,” Zellmann said, “and suddenly we have X amount of people placed in quarantine.”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.