TOWNSHEND — The Selectboard on Monday voted unanimously to mothball the town website and stop sending out e-mails via its listserv, saying maintaining those resources is all but impossible given new state rules on open meetings, which went into effect July 1.
The website, www.townshendvt.net, established in 2005, is a treasure trove of selectboard, planning commission, school board, and town meeting minutes; ordinances and policies; announcements; open bids; calendar items; policies; regional resources; and land use and other maps.
The website draws lively traffic, demonstrated its webmaster, Rick Hege. It was to go dark July 8 as soon as a final communique, a letter of explanation, could be sent out on the listserv, which has more than 100 subscribers, including Vermont Public Radio.
Meanwhile, nominal annual domain name registration and Web hosting fees will still be paid to protect the town's asset should it revisit the issue, and email addresses associated with it - for the Selectboard and fire department - will continue to function.
The problem, according to Carole Melis, who introduced the motion to suspend the site indefinitely, is one municipalities are discovering statewide: the new rules insist that any municipality that provides a website must feed it a constant stream of, well, everything: all board, committee, and subcommittee agendas and minutes, and all exchanges between and among officials, and all within days.
According to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that serves Vermont's municipal officials, “the changes generally apply 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.”
Noting that the law exacts steep fines for noncompliance - or will starting next year - VLCT advises towns that unless their boards comply with law they should take their sites down. And that was a convincing argument in Townshend.
“Since we can't compel any other board to comply wth the requirements, we are almost automatically going to be in violation, I don't see any alternative but to take it down, which is too bad because a lot of people have benefited from it,” Melis said June 30, when the motion was introduced, discussed passionately, and tabled for a week over a question of phrasing.
On July 1, the date the changes went into effect, Deputy Secretary of State Brian Leven replied to an inquiry from Townshend confirming the requirements.
“I am not really clear on your perception of 'enormous amounts of procedures,'” Leven wrote. “Many officials with whom I have been speaking are embracing these relatively minor changes as important steps towards making government open and accountable.”
Contacted by The Commons, Leven repeated what he closed with in his letter: “If these new requirements seem overwhelming, there are resources available to municipalities at or through the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.”
On July 7, voicing similar frustration news reports show are being felt in towns across the state, Townshend lamented that it had no option but to follow VLCT's advice and close the website and listserv.
“What got me is not so much the penalty for any board that fails to comply with the requirements to get the agendas up 48 hours in advance, and post the minutes five days after - and that goes for every board within a town, therefore leaving the town open to multiple $500 assessments - that's not even my biggest worry,” Melis said.
She explained her biggest worry was that any action taken in a meeting out of compliance can be thrown out, and that people who perceive they're injured as a result have ammunition to fight back against the town in court - where plaintiff's legal fees would likely be borne by the town.
Board Chair Kathy Hege put in that Townshend already is noncompliant: that the Listers' grievance hearings, which began July 1, weren't warned, and neither an agenda nor minutes were evidently kept or shared online.
The Listers were notified of the law, but the Selectboard has no leverage to make them comply, she said.
“Does this rescind any decisions that were made?” asked Melis.
“Probably not,” Hege said, “but I don't want to go there.”
The Selectboard also agreed to adopt language for a letter of explanation to be sent to State Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, and State Rep. Richard Marek, D-Newfane.
“It's unfortunate that our website will be taken down. Many of the town's residents utilize the site as their window to town government, as well as news and information. […] Perhaps some further revisions of the Open Meeting Law could be considered,” the letter reads in part.
According to published reports, legislators have said they may revisit the law next year.
The town's administrative assistant, Craig Hunt, said hard copies of agendas and minutes are posted at Town Hall, and anyone interested in reading them or having copies made can visit.
As well, Brattleboro Community Television maintains a robust archive of televised meetings for Brattleboro, Guilford, Dummerston, Jamaica, Newfane, Putney, Townshend, and Vernon.