GREENFIELD — The City Council and all its subcommittees will continue to meet remotely.
On a motion to return to in-person meetings, nine councilors voted “no” with only At-Large Councilor Penny Ricketts supporting a return to meeting in person. City Council President Sheila Gilmour abstained, while Precinct 7 Councilor Jasper Lapienski — who participated in the discussion — was not present for the vote.
“I think it’s important for us to understand that many of us, in our personal lives, have been affected by COVID, and not all the people we’ve known have recovered from COVID,” At-Large Councilor Christine Forgey told councilors at Wednesday’s council meeting. “Many of us have children; many of us are in different health categories. I think the wisdom here is to follow the governor.”
Forgey was referencing an update from the state extending the allowance for virtual municipal meetings until July.
Precinct 8 Councilor Doug Mayo also argued in favor of continuing to meet remotely, noting that in many places masks are still required indoors, including in Greenfield.
“I would like to at least wait until the state drops their guidelines before we move back to in-person meetings,” he said.
Lapienski, however, spoke in support of returning to in-person meetings.
“I think my experience tonight should speak to why we need to be meeting in-person,” Lapienski said. “There were various technical difficulties, and I am generally a person who finds the technical difficulties and makes them happen, but ultimately I was almost prevented from attending because the website had the wrong meeting ID for the call-in. … I suspect there were people who intended to participate from the public who are not here because of that reason.”
He pointed to the organizational meeting at the John Zon Community Center in January as an example of a successful in-person meeting.
“I believe the evidence is there that we are capable of doing this smoothly, and we owe it to the public that we face them when we’re debating issues of importance to them,” Lapienski said.
At-Large Councilor Philip Elmer clarified that incorrect log-in information was initially provided for Wednesday’s meeting, but the correct information was sent in an amended agenda.
“I sympathize,” he said. “I often have had problems getting into meetings, but we did get an alert from the City Clerk’s office that the information sent out by WebEx was wrong. I guess it’s a lesson that you have to pay close attention to what the clerk’s office is sending you.”
Responding to Elmer, Lapienski said he had not received the email with updated information.
“More importantly, neither was the public,” he said. “The public is being denied an opportunity to participate. … If you cannot face the public, you should be in another job.”
Lapienski left the virtual meeting before the vote and did not return.
Precinct 1 Councilor Ed Jarvis said that while he would prefer to meet in person, he would first like to make sure everyone is safe.
“With that being said, I think we need to tread lightly, see the numbers go down … to where I feel it would be safer for people that have (health) issues and councilors that have (health) issues,” Jarvis said.
In a separate vote, councilors also unanimously approved the use of remote participation for councilors in certain scenarios, such as illness, travel, military service or an emergency situation. In such a case, all votes taken on the council floor would require a roll call vote.
Precinct 3 Councilor Virginia “Ginny” DeSorgher said this policy had already been passed by Disability Access and the Planning Board.
Councilors agreed it was in their best interest to have this policy in place before the City Council, eventually, returns to in-person meetings.
“I’m glad we’re talking about this before we move into in-person meetings,” Gilmour said.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.