Poll: Should Town Officials Participate in and Vote in Meetings Remotely?

On Friday, Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office introduced new regulations under the Open Meeting Law that authorize remote participation in meetings under certain circumstances.

"The purpose of these new regulations is to promote greater participation in government, while upholding the main purpose of the Open Meeting Law – transparency,” said AG Coakley in the announcement. “While in certain extenuating circumstances members of public bodies are permitted to participate remotely, we encourage physical attendance when at all possible.”

The AG further states "that the practice of remote participation must be adopted by the chief executive officer of the municipality for local public bodies, or by a majority vote of the public body for state, county and regional public bodies, before public bodies can use it. If remote participation is adopted, under the new regulations, members of public bodies may use audio or video conferencing to participate in meetings when physical attendance is unreasonably difficult due to personal illness, personal disability, emergency, military service, or geographic distance."