Broadband project could increase virtual meetings in Newfield

The Newfield Town Board will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. June 23 for a proposed local law that would allow the board to hold virtual meetings.

Gov. Kathy Hochul extended an executive order earlier this year that allowed virtual meetings in light of the pandemic (view the full release at tinyurl.com/26pfu3rk), but that order expired June 8. With the pandemic still ongoing — and with a local broadband expansion project in the works — the Town Board is looking to continue with a hybrid model of virtual and in-person meetings for the foreseeable future.

Like other local governments, the Newfield Town Board has been holding remote meetings since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. While this method allowed the board to meet, it also was difficult for many residents in Newfield who do not have reliable internet access. About 273 households in Newfield have substandard or no internet access and thus were unable to stream video.

“In the beginning, I imagine that there were a lot of people who were not able to participate because they did not have good internet access,” said Town Supervisor Michael Allinger.

Despite this, Allinger said remote meetings were more convenient for many people who had internet access. Additionally, he pointed out that the upcoming Point Broadband project is intended to help many Newfield residents who live in areas with unreliable service (read more at tinyurl.com/2yxowfly).

“That was my hope, that people who had wanted to participate and wanted to listen in to the meetings would have an easy way to do that,” Allinger said. “And that’s still our intent with moving forward with this local law that would allow us to continue virtual meetings. It’s very easy for someone to be able to log in, to listen, to be able to take part in privilege of the floor and be more in touch with what the town is doing on their behalf.”

Allinger said that having to hold remote meetings during the pandemic was “a good trial period” for taking advantage of the technology and helped prove that virtual meetings were possible. Now that the executive order has expired, he is looking ahead.

“I think it had to come to an end eventually,” Allinger said. “And I think that the governor and association of towns has come up with a way to continue holding virtual meetings — or hybrid meetings, actually — into the future, so that people can more easily listen in and participate with what’s happening to their town.”

The proposed local law gives governments the ability to hold video conferences for their regular meetings, albeit with some stipulations. The law states that meetings can only be held with a quorum. Members may attend remotely and even vote if they have extenuating circumstances but must be visible on screen. Those remote members cannot count toward the quorum.

There are a few different types of extenuating circumstances. Board members can attend remotely if they are traveling for work or on vacation and are not in town. They can also attend remotely if their obligations as caregivers for children or the elderly prevent them from leaving home. Board members who are under a doctor’s order not to attend meetings in person but are well enough to participate may do so remotely.

Allinger said these allowances are helpful for Newfield’s board members since most of them have other jobs for which they sometimes have to travel. He added that enabling sick board members to attend remotely was a way to help prevent the spread of disease.

“This is something that’s come out of the whole COVID pandemic,” Allinger said. “There are viruses that are very contagious and could be life-threatening to certain individuals.”

The board must hold a public hearing for the proposed law before members can vote on it, but once they pass the law, it will take effect immediately.

“I don’t see that this will be a very controversial move for most people in the community,” Allinger said. “I think it makes sense that we would want to continue something that for the past two years has proven to be very efficient and very effective.”

Allinger said the ability to hold virtual and hybrid meetings is highly convenient for local governments and the people who attend those meetings, so other governments should take advantage of the opportunity.

“It just makes sense because you’ve given people a way to log in and listen in to what’s going on with town business for two years now,” he said. “It’s proven to be an effective way to have people participate and listen in. There doesn’t seem to be a reason why you wouldn’t want to continue to give that advantage to the folks.”

Newfield Notes appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.

In brief:

School board to meet

The Newfield Central School District’s Board of Education will meet June 23 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will take place in the high school library, and masks are optional. For more information, including the agenda and the YouTube link for the stream of the meeting, go to the district website at newfieldschools.org.

Library screens documentary, holds storytime

The Newfield Public Library will screen “Agnes: The Flood of ‘72” on June 23 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in observance of the 50th anniversary of the titular flood. Discussion with refreshments will follow the showing.

The library will also hold its Family Storytime from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. June 28.