TOWNSHEND — The Selectboard overreacted in shuttering the town's website and listserv July 7. That's according to an author of an overhaul to the state's open meetings law, who says those changes, which officials here object to on logistical grounds, are seen as generally positive in municipalities statewide.
Days after a report of Townshend's action [“Townshend town website goes dark,” News, July 9], state Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee, called The Commons to say that concerns here as discussed in at least two Selectboard meetings are unfounded.
The open meeting law revision enacted July 1 “casts a broad net,” explains the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, “and generally applies whenever a majority of the members of a municipal board, council, commission, committee, or subcommittee have a conversation or make a decision about municipal business.”
The new rules do apply to every public body of a municipality; the requirements are triggered whenever a quorum of a public body meets; and an agenda must be created and posted in advance of every regular or special meeting, White agrees.
And yes, meetings must be properly noticed and announced, and minutes must be taken at every public meeting and must include at least the members present, active participants, motions made, and votes taken.
All true, she says.
Also required are that minutes must be taken at meetings and those minutes be made available within five days, including on a town website, if there is one.
But there is zero basis in fact that housekeeping emails among officials must be posted online as well, White said.
“It isn't true. It just isn't true,” she said by phone from her office shortly after Townshend's website (www.townshendvt.net) went down, as had Montgomery's previously, both in reaction to the new rules.
The law has teeth, though they can't bite for a year, a grace period built into the law.
“A person who knowingly and intentionally violates the Open Meeting Law may be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable with a fine up to $500,” the rules say, and it's this provision that apparently has the full attention of many municipalities.
Meanwhile, the VLCT has advised towns with websites that if they need time to get their heads around the rules they should suspend their websites rather than risk fines or other fallout.
Montgomery officials said in published reports that they would use this summer to set a plan for getting postings to the Web in a timely fashion.
A smattering of headlines statewide show many towns are paying close attention to their responsibilities.
But Townshend, which sees itself as having few resources to keep up with its reading of the demands of the law, has set no timetable for when it might return to the Web, if ever.
Moreover, officials here have said, failure to comply with the rules could invalidate action taken at an affected meeting. Townshend wasn't willing to take the risk, particularly as the Selectboard has no apparent power to compel other boards and committees in town, according to Kathy Hege, chair of the Selectboard.
Meanwhile, White said she had fielded calls of concern from people wondering whether Townshend's fears surrounding the use of email had merit.
They don't, she said.
“I do understand [that volunteers are tasked with the work], but on the other hand [officials] are there to do the public's business, and the public has a right to know what they're doing,” she said.
As regards email, that certainly may be used for distribution of information and other administrative necessities, but should not be used for discussion, White said.
Characterizing calls she received following the news, White said, “'Holy Moses, we have to post all our emails?' They [Townshend] are just wrong. They're wrong. There's nothing in there that says emails have to be posted. So I really was disappointed.”
She also said a quorum of officials must not meet when there has been no official warning, which Townshend officials said might be required during a hypothetical emergency.
'Minutes aren't onerous'
“Minutes aren't onerous,” White said, “and it clearly says in the law what has to be in the minutes. It isn't onerous. They could just be handwritten minutes, scanned in. It just says minutes. There's no requirement by law that says [Web-posted] minutes must be approved,” she added, countering Townshend officials who read the law as requiring the posting of draft and approved minutes.
“'A constant stream of everything'? No,” she said, taking specific issue with a quote from Selectboard Member Carole Melis, who introduced the motion to take down the website. That motion had passed unanimously.
The intent of the law, White said, is to make sure that the public knows what their public boards are doing.
“And it's a very fine balance between the public's right right to know and the body's ability to function. That balance is where you get the tension,” she acknowledged.
Montgomery was the first town to darken its website, White noted, “and I believe they've since put it back up.”
In fact, Montgomery hadn't restored its website by press time; a message at www.montgomeryvt.us says, in part, that officials had spiked the site on advice of the VLCT, and that, “We hope to reinstate the site when we are confident we are compliant with the new requirements.”
Indeed a number of towns have taken sites down and put them back up since July 1, White said.
Windham County officials react
Reached for their views on the open meeting law's new requirements, officials in Windham County generally seemed sanguine.
Hege, reached for comment at the Townshend town office, reiterated that “it is difficult for people to get the minutes done as quickly as the law requires.”
In Windham, (windhamvt.info) the changes have proved difficult, but not impossible, to meet. According to Mary Boyer, chair of the Windham Selectboard, last-minute changes to the board agenda pose “a worry.”
That said, the law “hasn't been an onerous change,” as officials in Windham “have tried to keep residents and voters informed all along,” Boyer said.
According to Andrew McLean, the town clerk for Dover (www.doververmont.com), larger municipalities have a built-in advantage:
“Having a paid staff certainly helps. You never know what level of expertise the tech-savvy people have on board.” But even then, he said, expertise varies from board to board.
Katie Buckley, the town administrator for Guilford (www.guilfordvt.net), noted there are a town volunteers and staffers far and wide “who don't function well on computers.”
“What if someone is sick or on vacation, who maintains the website? It's tough, and towns with more staff can handle this pretty flawlessly,” she said.
Brattleboro's town clerk, Annette Cappy, said that with so much valuable information on her town's website, www.brattleboro.org, “taking it down is not an option.”
And she said Brattleboro can indeed afford to pay for additional website or clerical help if needed.
Cynthia Stoddard, the town manager of Putney (www.putneyvt.org), seemed to sympathize with those struggling.
At least for their Development Review Board, who are volunteers, trying to get workers in the swing of making agendas and minutes available has been the biggest challenge, she said.
But the Selectboard and DRB make full use of draft minutes to get the job done, she added.