The Marion Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to postpone town meeting and town elections to undetermined dates during its April 9 emergency meeting held via videoconferencing.
“My hope would be to… hold a town meeting Monday with a Friday election, but I don’t want to be locked into that,” said Town Administrator Jay McGrail.
The board also closed the town meeting warrant which, if held in a non-traditional format, will only include Articles 1-4 to secure budgeting so the town can operate in fiscal year 2021. The rest of town meeting would be postponed until it can be conducted in the traditional manner.
McGrail thanked the Finance Committee for its joint meetings with the Board of Selectmen and Assistant Town Administrator Judy Mooney for her work on the budget. “When we started from November to today… we’ve been able to stay online and on target… It took a little bit out of me, to be honest,” he said.
On a brighter note, McGrail publicly thanked the Community Center staff for its effort on the morning of the April 9 meeting for delivering groceries to over 100 cars groceries in the pouring rain. “They’re not looking for kudos, but they certainly deserve it,” he said.
The postponed town meeting and elections, to a date no later than June 30, will be announced at least 20 days in advance. The decision to postpone them had been freely discussed, forecast and planned in prior Select Board and other public meetings attended by McGrail and/or Selectman John Waterman.
The state offered towns a provision to postpone town elections beyond June 30, but McGrail told the board it is not needed at this point.
Attorney Brad Gordon, attending the meeting, asked if Marion had considered a remote-access town meeting.
“We can explore it. I haven’t heard of any town using that option,” said McGrail, who then shared the hybrid concept of using Sippican School with a large main meeting room and several classrooms to comply with open-meeting law and, at the same time, maintain social distancing practices with appropriate spacing.
In this scenario, classroom monitors would televise the main meeting room via Zoom, and attendees looking to participate would be able to walk from a classroom to the main hall without overcrowding it.
Gordon asked if using Sippican School was in order to verify the eligibility of the participants, to which McGrail acknowledged, “That’s a good point.” Chairperson Randy Parker reiterated safety amidst the threat of COVID-19 as the primary motivation.
“There’s no danger of anyone being shut out because they don’t have the technology,” added Waterman.
Town elections may be tweaked and absentee ballots may be encouraged, but according to Town Clerk Lissa Magauran, they cannot be required as polls must remain open on the day of the election for a minimum of four hours.
“I think the further out we go it’s going to be easier to get election workers. Twenty days (notice) should be fine,” she told the meeting.
The April 14 meeting of the board was canceled. The Board of Selectmen will meet at 3:00 pm Thursday, April 16, via remote access.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo