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Committee hears mixed concerns on S.59 changes to Vermont open meeting rules
Summary
Witnesses including regional planners, broadband districts and community media advocates told the Senate Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on April 17 that S.59 should be clarified to protect site-inspection logistics, third-party recording, working-group activity and access for residents in large rural districts.
The Senate Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee heard testimony on Thursday, April 17, about S.59, a bill that would amend Vermont’s open meeting law to require hybrid meetings and broaden recording and access duties for public bodies.
Witnesses representing regional planning commissions, communications union districts and community media groups pressed the committee to refine the bill’s language to avoid imposing impractical requirements on volunteers and entities that lack permanent meeting space or staff. Charlie Baker, executive director of the Chima County Regional Planning Commission, said the regional planning commissions “follow the open meeting law” and regularly advise local public bodies, and asked the committee to add specific exceptions for site inspections and field visits.
The request to exempt site inspections, Baker said, reflects “logistic difficulties” for public bodies that…
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