Meetings are held remotely. From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda and find out how to view and take part remotely.
Thursday, June 10
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m.
Monday, June 14
- Round Table meeting, 10 a.m.
- Pre-Town Meeting, 7 p.m.
Conversation Starters
How to Be Hybrid
At the select board’s June 8 meeting, Ryan Curley opened a discussion about how the board should go about handling remote participation once in-person meetings resume.
He prepared a “remote participation policy,” as it is being called, which has been referred to the interim town administrator for comments and will be returned to the select board no later than July 27.
The policy, which Curley adapted from the state’s version, recommends a hybrid approach. Members of the board would be required to attend meetings in person, but department heads and constituents would have the option to attend meetings virtually.
Select board members saw advantages and drawbacks to a hybrid policy.
Michael DeVasto and Helen Miranda Wilson both said that hybrid meetings were in step with the spirit of open meetings because they allowed as many members of the public to contribute to town government as possible. They agreed that virtual meetings over the past year have been more widely attended than in-person meetings ever were.
But Wilson said she worries about the quality of participation when only some people join remotely. “Everybody has to be equally intelligible and be able to be fully present,” she said. “I’m worried about unevenness of presence — if some people are remote and some people are actually there, their input has a specific flavor that is differentiated and that could be a negative effect,” Wilson said. —Paul Sullivan