BRATTLEBORO — In a possible precursor to what other communities may have to do next March, this southern Vermont hub will replace its annual town meeting — postponed for months by the Covid-19 pandemic — with video debating and voting.
“It’s not perfect, but this solution feels like the best one,” Selectboard Chairman Tim Wessel said at an online session Tuesday night. “A lot of people were itching to meet in person, but we have to continue this way until everybody feels safe.”
Most Green Mountain municipalities decide budgets and other ballot questions at annual town meetings in early March. Brattleboro, the state’s seventh most populous locality with about 11,000 residents, aims to keep attendance manageable by electing up to 149 representatives who wait to gather later that month.
The Selectboard, having delayed this year’s meeting just days before its March 21 date, had hoped to schedule another before the July 1 start of its fiscal year. But members have struggled with how to corral several hundred people under state guidelines that limit a crowd to 75 indoors or 150 outdoors.
Local leaders first considered a myriad of ways to hold a town meeting in person — including renting a tent big enough for a three-ring circus — only to hear that some residents won’t attend no matter what precautions are taken.
Officials then explored online options. Surveying town meeting representatives, they discovered that of the 133 who responded, 96% have some sort of computer, 95% have sufficient internet access and 88% had the technical understanding to plug into video conferencing.
In comparison, only 65% were willing to meet in person, while 75% were open to trying the internet.
Administrators earlier this month proposed a hybrid Plan B: an online town meeting that would feature discussion also broadcast on Brattleboro Community TV, followed by a weeklong opportunity to mark and mail-in Australian ballots from home.
But that came with a catch: Because the town would print and distribute both an agenda and ballots before the meeting, representatives wouldn’t be able to propose amendments but instead simply vote yes or no.
A revised plan endorsed by the Selectboard on Tuesday calls for using the Zoom video-conferencing platform for both discussing and deciding questions, as it would allow members to electronically signal when they want to speak and how they want to vote.
“There’s a downside risk there might be some technical issues,” Town Manager Peter Elwell said, “but it would preserve the opportunity for full debate and amendments.”
The selectboard will vote next week on a warning for a town meeting Saturday, Sept. 12, and, if more time is needed, Sunday, Sept. 13.
The agenda will lack one article from the original proposed four months ago: the town’s annual budget.
Representatives are required by charter to approve a spending plan. But when the selectboard couldn’t schedule a meeting before the start of the current fiscal year, it turned to a temporary state measure that allowed it to adopt a budget to ensure municipal operations continue.
The five-member board voted 3-2 last month for an $18.4 budget that includes $2.3 million for local police — as well as a promise to review future law enforcement spending through a citizens study committee now being formulated.
Even so, Brattleboro still has 19 other agenda items that require town meeting attention. Some local leaders are concerned the meeting, which can run as many as 12 hours in person, could be even longer online. But others believe representatives will adapt.
“The budget is off the table,” Town Moderator Lawrin Crispe said, “so I believe a Zoom meeting could be workable.”