Town weighs in-person meeting return
GREENWICH — On a Monday evening each May, the 230 members of the Representative Town Meeting pack into the auditorium at Central Middle School to debate and take the final vote on the municipal budget for the town of Greenwich.
But in 2020, the RTM was forced to move its fiscal discussion to Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And after a year of virtual meetings, the RTM will take a step toward normalcy May 10 by holding a hybrid meeting — with some members in person but most still on Zoom — to finalize the 2021-22 budget.
A total of 100 RTM members and town officials will
gather at Central in the traditional way — the maximum number of people allowed to gather indoors under Connecticut’s pandemic rules. The rest of the RTM will link in via Zoom.
RTM Moderator Tom Byrne opened the seats to the first 100 members to sign up for the RTM’s first inperson meeting since March 9, 2020, just before the pandemic hit.
This is the first step toward ending the virtual meetings, Byrne and RTM Moderator Pro Tempore Alexis Voulgaris said in a joint statement.
“RTM leadership strongly believes that a continuation of remote meetings would, on the whole, negatively affect the legislative process in Greenwich,” the statement said. “We are grateful to have been able to continue exercising our legislative responsibilities in the face of enforced isolation. But when all restrictions are lifted, we believe the full RTM meetings should be held in person with no remote participation.”
But it’s unclear whether the RTM’s return for a partial in-person meeting will lead the way to more town panels doing the same.
It is under temporary executive orders from Gov. Ned Lamont that Connecticut municipalities are allowed to suspend open meeting requirements and hold meetings virtually.
A future with a hybrid approach of both in-person and Zoom meetings could be coming for municipal governments, according to Sean O’Brien, a fellow at Yale Law School.
Based on recent cases about public access to meetings in California, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all methods of attending a meeting, whether it be over Zoom or another avenue such as Facebook, need to remain consistent and should not be changed on short notice due to technical difficulties. And he said that “after pandemic lockdowns are over, meetings should be hybrid inperson and virtual.”
O’Brien said it would be “good practice” for municipal meetings to offer phonein options as well as an open channel online where people can make comments and ask questions.
“I’ve seen two major benefits in attending municipal meetings virtually this past year,” O’Brien said. “The first is attendance. It's been much higher. The second is that guest speakers can attend from anywhere to lend their expertise to a topic, and I've been able to speak at meetings across the state.
“Where participation has been concerned, it's a mixed bag,” he said. “I do miss lively, in-person meetings.”
Back to normal?
“Little by little,” town government is returning to prepandemic rules, First Selectman Fred Camillo said. Town Hall is now open for regular business hours, and Camillo said he would like to see in-person town meetings return as well.
“I look forward to getting back to in-person,” Camillo said. “I don’t think anything takes the place of being inperson. I love the option of Zoom, though, and I hope the state allows us to do a hybrid form of meeting postpandemic. I know that’s being discussed, and I think it would be great. I think most of us are itching to get back to in-person meetings.”
Byrne and Voulgaris said their approach might not work for other areas of town government,
“We recognize there are positive aspects to remote meetings, and that those positives might actually outweigh the negatives for meetings of groups much smaller than the full RTM, including RTM district and committee meetings, as well as other town boards and commissions.,” they said.
Preference for virtual?
One town panel that doesn’t appear eager to return to the old ways, though, is the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Last Tuesday night, commission Chair Margarita Alban brought the topic up during the annual Cos Cob
Town Meeting, which was held on Zoom. Several speakers discussed how they have adapted during the pandemic.
“We don’t want to go back,” Alban said. “We don’t want to be in-person. We love that everyone comes and tells us what’s wrong with us at our Zoom meetings. It’s a lot of fun, and it enhances our creativity.”
On Thursday, though, Alban said, “first and foremost, P&Z will respect all state law.”
The commission was among the earliest adopters of Zoom, which she said has created more “participation in our meetings we’ve never seen before.”
Also, Alban said it’s easier to run a meeting on Zoom because she can see everyone’s faces and can see when someone wants to be a part of the discussion, which can be difficult to do in person.
She added that Zoom made it “easy and convenient for more people to participate in our meetings.” It also allows commission members to attend from other locations and makes it more
convenient to attend training sessions, allowing them to “deepen our knowledge and expand innovation.”
Making the most of hybrid?
Other parts of town government are making plans to return to in-person meetings but will continue to eye Zoom, too.
Board of Education Chair Peter Bernstein said his eight-member board plans to gather in person for its next scheduled business meeting on May 20. School board meetings typically move monthly from school to school when they’re held in person. Bernstein said they plan to use the auditorium at Central, and enforce social distancing and mask rules.
“We plan to continue to stream our meetings, as Zoom has allowed for increased participation by parents, and I certainly hope that will continue into the future,” he said.
Board of Estimate and Taxation Chair Michael Mason said he could not speak for the full BET but he
personally would like inperson meetings. But they will stick with Zoom for now, which he says some members prefer.
“I miss our live meetings, there’s a different dynamic to them,” Mason said. The BET will discuss in June a motion to continue Zoom meetings until December, he said.
The BET tried to hold its budget discussion last month as a hybrid, but technical issues forced them to reconvene on Zoom.
There are challenges for hybrid meetings on the BET, he said, where there is a continuing dialogue among 12 members. On the RTM, only one speaker is recognized at a time.
Mason saie he will be among those attending the May 10 meeting of the RTM in person, joking that he got one of the “golden tickets” for the budget vote.
Rules from the state?
The state General Assembly is looking at several bills that would allow municipal meetings to take place with a hybrid of in-person and
Zoom participation while still complying with freedom of information and state access laws.
Reps. Kimberly Fiorello, R-149, and Stephen Meskers, D-150, say they support the idea of allowing hybrid meetings. Meskers is a current member of the RTM, and Fiorello is a former member.
“That would help the democratic process by getting more people involved, and I’m in favor of that,” Meskers said.
Fiorello said state government should have to function safely in person — like “so much of our society has figured out.” But she acknowledged that the use of Zoom has increased participation and transparency of municipal meetings. And she supported legislation that would municipalities to choose what works best — in person, virtual or a hybrid of the two.
Rep. Harry Arora, R-151, and Sen. Alex Kasser, D-36, could not be reached for comment on the issue.