Super town meeting date
Selectman Chair Marie Sobalvarro said that it was reported at the last meeting of the Joint Boards of Selectmen of Harvard, Shirley, Ayer, and the Devens Committee, that the town administrators of each town agree that March 28 would be the best date to hold a “super town meeting” on proposed zoning and bylaw changes that would pave the way for a rental-housing development project at Vicksburg Square in Devens (see related story).
Also, Sobalvarro said, the Board of Selectmen will be holding a public hearing with developer Trinity Financial on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
Petition reaches 290
Harvard resident Stu Sklar reported to Selectmen that a petition he posted online to support the inclusion of community meeting space on the second floor of Town Hall in the municipal building renovation project has 290 signers, 280 of which live in Harvard.
“I’m overwhelmed by the results,” Sklar said.
Sklar said he would keep the petition live until the joint meeting with the Municipal Building Committee, Selectmen, and Finance Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
Remote participation
Selectmen discussed whether or not to allow members of boards and committees in town to participate in meetings remotely, by speaker phone or video.
According to state law, a town’s Board of Selectmen must approve the remote participation policy before any of the other boards can use it. Selectmen agreed they were not interested in remote participation on their own board.
Selectman Bill Johnson advocated for the idea to allow other boards to “experiment” with it.
Selectman Ron Ricci said “the idea has some merit,” but he was concerned about the public being able to hear the speaker phone.
“The bottom line is, not only does it have to work for members of the board, but, for most of the meetings, it has to be for the public and they have to hear it,” he said.
“My guess is that they’ll get feedback pretty darn quick from the audience if this is not working,” Johnson said.
Selectmen voted 4-1 to approve the policy. Selectman Peter Warren voted against it. According to the policy, a board member may participate remotely if he or she is unavailable due to personal illness, personal emergency, military service, or geographic distance.
—Matthew Cook
