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Selectmen form committee to draft guidance on electronic communications after lengthy debate
Summary
Following public input and legal cautions about reply‑all email chains, the board agreed to create a three‑member committee and to pursue town‑issued orange.gov addresses to standardize how selectmen respond to constituents by email and avoid potential FOIA/illegal‑meeting risks.
The Board of Selectmen opened an extended discussion on a proposed policy for electronic communications by board members and agreed to appoint a three‑person committee to draft recommended guidelines.
The conversation ranged across practical and legal concerns: inconsistent receipt of constituent messages (some members rely on personal Hotmail addresses), whether reply‑all threads can create an "illegal meeting" under open‑meeting laws, and how to preserve residents’ access to their elected representatives while preventing impropriety. Several selectmen and members of the public urged the board to remain accessible; others urged caution and recommended town‑issued email accounts and written protocols.
Town Attorney Weaver advised the board that replying to an email thread in certain ways—particularly reply‑all exchanges that continue a collective discussion—can be viewed by a Freedom of Information officer as forming an illegal meeting, and suggested conservative practices such as avoiding reply‑all and not continuing a group chain that discusses board business. "The initial response to the initial reply all is probably going to be found by a FOIA commission hearing officer as an illegal meeting," Weaver said.
Nut graf: To balance responsiveness with legal risk, the board decided to have staff assign orange.gov email addresses to members and to empanel a three‑member committee to draft clearer guidance for handling constituent emails, reply‑all situations and communications about agenda items.
Members emphasized the difference between individual outreach to constituents (which most saw as appropriate) and multi‑member discussions that could amount to an unposted meeting. The selectmen asked the committee to return a draft policy at the next monthly meeting.
