Town Hall offices to reopen Monday

Public will again be able to view Town Board meetings live

Officials will reopen town offices to the public on Monday, July 13. In addition, the public will be able to watch Town Board meetings live for the first time since March.

The decision was made during a Town Board meeting Monday, July 6. Supervisor Paul Landi said the absence of new coronavirus cases in the town is encouraging.

“I do believe we’re back to zero (cases), so the town of Kingston is doing very well,” he said.

Even with the opening of municipal offices inside Town Hall, there will still be a prohibition against use of playground equipment outside the building.

“Everything here would be open, but our grounds

would still be closed,” Landi said.

The meetings are expected to conform with limits of 25 people, which would include board members and personnel needed to provide information or

help conduct business.

Town Board meetings had been recorded and put online but Landi said town officials did not interpret the state executive order to mean the public should have an opportunity to either watch live through the internet or listen by telephone.

The only exception to the closed meetings was a June

15 town Planning Board meeting conducted on a video conference platform to discuss the 850 Route 28 application for steel and concrete fabrication plants.

In the March 7 executive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state Public Officers Law Article 7 was suspended so that municipal

boards could meet by “conference call or similar service, provided that the public has the ability to view or listen to such proceeding and that such meetings are recorded and later transcribed.”

Councilman Darren Wells said there was no effort to have meetings available for

public observation as they happened because the state requirement did not use the word “live” in the order.

“The executive order says that it needs to be recorded and transcribed,” he said.

State Committee on Open Government Assistant Director Kristin O’Neill said the requirement

to be viewed or heard live is clear.

“It’s certainly not compliant with the Open Meetings Law and the executive order which requires they make the meeting available through some sort of remote access, whether its WebEx, Zoom or live stream,” she said.