At a past Warner select board meeting, several residents made their way to Town Hall and took to the microphone to let their elected officials know how they felt about recent turmoil in town.

Others tuned in online, using a Zoom video link to follow along, a mosaic of their faces broadcast on the wall.

One of the people to speak at the August 1 meeting was Warner resident Michael Simon, who suggested the select board post draft minutes of meetings online to keep residents in the know.

In the spirit of transparency, select board members Harry Seidel and Faith Minton agreed. Going forward, a draft recounting the meeting will be posted online, with a more thorough record approved by the board at the following meeting. 

If residents wanted an exact play by play of a meeting before the minutes were formally approved, town administrator Diane Ricciardelli offered another solution – she’d email out the video to anyone who asks. 

“I’ve sent them out hundreds of times, I will send you the recording and you can watch the minutes,” said Ricciardelli. “We do it all the time. I would say after every meeting we get more requests and they go out.” 

That offer was short lived. 

Now, to get a link to the recording of that meeting or any other, Ricciardelli said members of the public must file a former records request under the state’s Right to Know Law, which could take weeks to respond.

When the Monitor asked for a link to the video of the meeting, Ricciardelli said she could send it by Sept. 7, along with other requested materials. Future videos won’t be posted online, she said.

“You will need to make a new request after each meeting,” she said in an email. “Unfortunately, given the limited staff time, the town cannot provide access to the requested document today.”

This is the town policy going forward, Ricciardelli said, in order to make sure all requests are responded to and accounted for.

Simon’s comments about transparency aren’t in the draft meeting minutes for the August 1 meeting. In nine pages of minutes, public comments were reduced to a paragraph. 

“The public commented on the Warner Connects lease and had ideas of how to move forward. The board ultimately decided to have a meeting of the two boards. There was a lot of discussion about restrooms and who would clean them at the community center,” the minutes read.

When the board held a special meeting Friday morning in addition to their typical bi-weekly Tuesday night meetings, it was posted as an “in-person meeting,” meaning only those physically present could participate. Gone was a Zoom link from the top of the agenda where the public could watch online or request a copy afterward.

The meeting was held to discuss the process for appointing a third select board member, which the public was told would be a transparent process. Online, residents lamented that a Friday morning meeting during the work day, barred many from attending. 

The agenda was posted online at 9:09 p.m. on Wednesday night, with no other formal notice of the meeting available. Also on the agenda: communication with the community.

Editor’s note: This article has been changed to clarify that Friday’s meeting was in addition to the Warner Select Board’s regular Tuesday meetings.

]]>