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Select Board weighs hybrid-meetings requirement, asks Town Counsel for legal guidance
Summary
Town leaders debated whether the Select Board may require hybrid (in-person + Zoom) meetings across town boards and commissions. Members split between making a mandatory policy and using aspirational "best-effort" language; staff was asked to get Town Counsel guidance and track pending state legislation before the Select Board pursues formal changes.
The Select Board on Dec. 17 opened a broad discussion about the town’s remote- and hybrid-meetings policy as the statewide remote-meeting authorization (Chapter 20, Acts of 2021) approaches a March 31, 2025 expiration.
Lisa Kuchacan asked the board to revisit the town’s remote-meeting guidance and consider whether hybrid meetings should be required for town boards and committees. "I think the technology is there, we have the facilities and the resources," she said, arguing that hybrid meetings increase inclusivity and transparency.
Other board members pushed back on the idea of mandating hybrid participation for independent elected boards (examples named included the Board of Assessors and the Housing Authority), noting legal and logistical questions about the Select Board’s authority to require practices for separately elected bodies. Several members recommended aspirational language that encourages hybrid meetings and better education for committees on available equipment and Sudbury TV resources, rather than a binding requirement.
The board voted to ask the town manager to seek Town Counsel guidance on two questions: (1) whether the Select Board has authority to require hybrid meetings for other town boards and committees; and (2) what, if any, statute or Beacon Hill proposals might change statewide rules before March 2025. Staff and subcommittee members were asked to summarize which town rooms and committees are currently set up for hybrid meetings and to develop options for the board to consider at a future meeting.
No final policy was adopted; members agreed to reconvene after receiving legal guidance and information about pending state legislation.
