COLRAIN — The Selectboard voted Tuesday to adopt a code of conduct for town employees, elected officials and members of the public who are conducting business with the town or attending meetings.
The policy, Selectboard member Ben Eastman said, will “get the ball rolling” on having more respectful discussions in town. The board began the discussion at its Dec. 6 meeting and asked Town Administrator Kevin Fox to look into creating a draft for consideration.
“This is for visitors and people attending meetings, (regarding) how to conduct themselves,” Fox said, adding that he is hopeful it will encourage people to “avoid bad behavior at meetings.”
The policy states “all persons shall be treated in a fair and equitable manner without exception” and no one shall “raise his or her voice, demean, purposefully embarrass, or physically accost any person on or in any town property or at any meeting, presentation or event sponsored by the town.”
In researching other towns’ code of conduct policies, Fox said he found Buckland’s policy to contain the points that Colrain officials wanted to emphasize and he created a draft from there. Buckland’s policy was adopted in 2015 and Fox joked that it was a good “test drive” for Colrain.
Over the years, several other towns in Franklin County have adopted or amended code of conduct policies to emphasize respectful conversations and civility among the public and members of town government.
Recent examples include Northfield’s policy, adopted by the board on April 29, 2019, which is a carbon copy of Buckland’s. Deerfield adopted a more comprehensive policy in 2020 that laid out numerous requirements for town employees’ and the public’s conduct, as well as emphasizing that “unsigned letters and anonymous communications will not be considered or reviewed.” Then in September 2021, following a string of well-attended Selectboard meetings, Leyden adopted a code of civil conduct and rules of order that Selectboard members said were good to have “if people get unruly at meetings or in other instances.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.
Colrain Code of Conduct by Chris Larabee on Scribd