Select Board member Nicholas O’Connor has taken on the assignment from the rest of the panel to draft a policy allowing members of town boards and commissions to participate in meetings by conference call or video link.
During a discussion of the issue Monday, Select Board Chairman Ronald Aponte said he would support the move under certain conditions. Most importantly, he said whether to allow someone to participate remotely should be at the discretion of the chair for any given meeting.
Aponte said that if contentious issues are being discussed, board members should be present to face the public if they are going to participate.
Select Board member Brenda Aldrich said she also would support the measure if remote participation is limited to absences due to business trips and family obligations. “If you are on vacation, you are on vacation,” she said.
O’Connor, who raised the issue, said that under state law individual boards are permitted to write their own guidelines for remote participation. In all cases, however, a physical quorum of board members must be in the room in order for a meeting to take place.
O’Connor said that if the town wants to “draw top talent” to its boards and commissions, it needs to have a remote participation policy in place.
But board member George “Archie” Archible, said he opposes remote participation. “If you can’t attend the meetings, don’t run for office,” he said.
The fifth board member, William Barnett, was absent during the discussion.
O’Connnor said he will draft a policy reflecting concerns, including that executive sessions be automatically excluded from remote participation because of the possibility that topics discussed during those private meetings could leak out.
Aponte told O’Connor, “I think we have a consensus, so let’s hammer that into a policy.”
Select Board members responded with dismay to the proposal by Baystate health to end inpatient care at Mary Lane Hospital in Ware.
The board adopted a resolution encouraging Baystate Health to increase its support for Mary Lane.
Belchertown Fire Department Capt. Craig Bodamer told the board that the majority of transports the town’s ambulances make are to Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, more than the number of trips to Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer and Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
Town Administer Gary Brougham expressed concern about losing the hospital in Ware because for many parts of town it has the closest emergency room, especially during times when traffic between Belchertown and Northampton is heavy.
“Minutes count and if you are in a bad way and you need to be treated in the emergency room by a cardiologist who can save your life,” the added travel time could be fatal, Brougham said.
Sean Gallagher, who lost a bid to serve on the Select Board last year, is seeking election again this year. He submitted nomination papers by Monday’s deadline to become the third candidate in a contest for two open seats. Both of the incumbents, Archible and Barnett, are seeking re-election.
Gallagher is a part-time Granby police officer. He has served on the Belchertown Lakes Committee and recently was a member of the search committee which reviewed applications for a new Belchertown police chief.
The election is May 16.
The Select Board is seeking letters of interest from people who want to be considered for appointment to the Director of Parks & Recreation Search Committee.
The seven-member committee will include the town administrator, the Department of Public Works director or a designee, representatives from the Parks & Recreation Committee and School Committee, and three other residents.
Anyone interested may submit a letter to the Office of the Board of Selectmen, One South Main St., P.O. Box 670, Belchertown, MA 01007, no later than noon April 8.
There is also a vacancy on the Mobile Home Rent Control Board, which oversees individual and general rent adjustments, as well as evictions from park accommodations. The town is also seeking to fill openings on the Skate Park Committee and the Zoning Board of Appeals. The deadline to apply for those panels is April 27.
Eric Goldscheider can be reached at eric.goldscheider@gmail.com.