WARWICK — Starting June 7, the Selectboard plans to proceed with hybrid meetings, with members meeting at the former Warwick Community School’s gymnasium and livestreaming.
Town Coordinator David Young referenced Gov. Charlie Baker’s March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, which allowed remote participation of municipal board members and waived the need for a quorum to be gathered in person.
“The way we understand it, the governor’s order expires on the 29th,” Young said Wednesday. “Yesterday I read he’d submitted legislation to extend some of the open meeting considerations through September, maybe, but that hasn’t happened yet.”
The underlying question awaiting an answer from the governor’s pending announcement, Young said, is whether boards will be required to have a quorum of members in person, with any members beyond a quorum able to participate remotely, or if a quorum can be achieved through remote participation alone. For now, Young said the Selectboard plans to move forward with members meeting in person at the former Warwick Community School’s gymnasium.
“We’re not terribly comfortable just saying, ‘Back to business as usual,’ so we’ve elected that reopening will center at the school where we’ve done so much ventilation work,” Young explained.
For those who are still unable to attend in person, meetings will continue to be broadcast online using Zoom. Young also said he has been “working in the background” to livestream Selectboard meetings on the town website, warwickma.org. While still in the works, this would ultimately see a link to the meeting video feed be accessible on the town website where it can be viewed live, but viewers cannot comment.
“My prediction is a lot of people are tired of Zoom meetings and would like to get back around a table,” Young said. “There’s no doubt that being around a table in a room is more effective, although we have made pretty good use of the technology.”
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com 413-930-4579.