AMHERST — For the first time, elected and appointed members of town boards will be able to actively participate in committee business, even when they are out of town or unable to get to the site of meetings.
The Select Board Monday unanimously endorsed a policy for remote participation, which will allow members who otherwise may be absent to take votes and discuss matters.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the policy includes a preference to fill out requests for remote participation in advance and an assurance that the person not in the meeting room is able to hear and be heard by everyone in the room.
Such participation would be based on issues such as personal illness or disability, an emergency, military service or geographic distance.
But the person participating remotely can’t be the chairperson for a committee, and can’t be the person who creates a quorum. The chairperson will have discretion as to whether to allow.
The agreement to begin remote participation, on a trial basis, comes in response to a request from the Amherst Charter Commission, which has been meeting regularly since last April.
Vice Chairwoman Mandi Jo Hanneke endorsed the idea at a Select Board meeting in June after the commission gathered feedback from residents who said an active citizenry is vital to Amherst.
“Remote participation would allow residents who already serve on boards and committees to participate in more meetings, and also may result in encouraging more residents to participate in town government,” Hanneke said.
In 2010, Carol Gray, then serving as an elected trustee for the Jones Library, was in Cairo, Egypt, and attended a meeting using Skype. But she was unable to participate because the Open Meeting law at the time.
Since then, the attorney general’s office has given discretion to cities and towns to allow remote participation. The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee, which is independent of the town, has allowed its members to join meetings through Skype, videoconferencing or speakerphone.
Northampton, in 2014, created rules allowing members of “multiple-member” bodies to participate remotely if the committee chairperson determines that physical attendance is difficult.
The Spoke, a downtown bar at 35 East Pleasant St., will soon be under new management after the Select Board approved a transfer of its liquor license.
Chad O’Rourke and Kara Fabry, who also run The O’s in Sunderland and The Tavern in South Deerfield, are taking over the business from long-time owner Douglas LeBlanc. O’Rourke has an agreement to buy the bar’s assets for $48,000.
Fabry told the Select Board Monday that The Spoke will use a state-of-the-art scanner to identify fake IDs, and anyone under the age of 50 will get carded. She added that attempts will be made to reduce the student attractiveness of the bar.
While running three bars, O’Rourke assured the Select Board that he can provide enough security to The Spoke, noting that he will hire competent bouncers at the entrances and that technological advances allows him to monitor each site remotely using his cellphone.
A local blogger is asking the Select Board to put a non-binding question on the March election ballot that would give residents a say in whether they support retaining Town Meeting as the legislative body.
The idea, said Larry Kelley of Precinct 5, would be to inform the Charter Commission about whether its exploration of a mayor and town council form of government, to replace the Select Board and Town Meeting, makes sense.
The Select Board has not yet responded to his request, although they turned down a similar suggestion from Kelley last year, prior to the formation of the Charter Commission.
Beginning Feb. 1, people living downtown will have more places to park their vehicles during winter overnight hours.
Bockelman said those with parking stickers will be able to utilize the town-owned portion of the CVS Pharmacy parking lot, between North Pleasant and North Prospect streets, and on-street spaces on Amity Street between North Pleasant Street and Lincoln Avenue.
The new spaces are needed as there is insufficient parking for those affected by the winter parking ban, which prohibits on-street parking daily from 2 to 6 a.m. from Dec. 1 through April 1.
Currently, those who live in town center who can’t find private off-street parking must move their vehicles daily, whether or not a snowstorm is in progress, to the lower level of the Boltwood parking garage, or the metered spaces on Pray Street.
The additional parking spots will provide 125 new spaces for downtown residents, more than doubling the 62 available in the garage and on Pray Street.
MONDAY: Select Board, 6 p.m., Band Room, middle school; Town Meeting, 7 p.m., middle school auditorium.
TUESDAY: Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m., Room 101, Bangs Community Center.
