Published June 18, 2020
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — After another lengthy discussion Monday night, the Select Board has opted to stick with its decision to hold the annual Town Meeting indoors in the high school gymnasium.
It is slated to be held on Monday, June 29 at 7 p.m. The board previously voted 4-1 June 1 to hold it indoors rather than on the football field or in the rear parking lot the high school. The decision needed to be made that night to meet the deadline to get the warrant printed and mailed to voters by June 15.
The board discovered that even though the town had delivered the warrants to the post office on time and expected them to be received by either Saturday, June 13 or Monday, June 15, many residents stated they had not been received prior to the June 15 Select Board meeting.
Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto reported to the board that he along with the town moderator, town clerk, school department members and public safety, health and finance officials evaluated the space in the gymnasium last week.
Gym layout meets social distancing
“We identified a layout that we believe will be successful” in maintaining the proper social distancing protocols. The bleachers would remain retracted against the wall with desks for the various boards set up in a “D” configuration in front of the bleacher and the moderator would stand in the middle.
Chairs would be set up at fixed locations for the participants in the gym who would be seated by an “usher.” Those waiting in line to be checked in would be standing six feet apart, entering only in the door at the far end of the gym, near the public restrooms off Main Street, the T.A. said. He added that masks would be required to be worn inside the building. A separate location in the Distance Learning Lab would be set up for those who, for medical reasons or personal preference, opt not to wear a face covering.
Gilleberto noted that after this site visit was conducted the state DPH issued an advisory indicating a preference to hold town meetings outdoors “to the extent feasible.” The option of holding the meeting virtually is not available to North Reading because it has an open Town Meeting format meaning any registered voter in the town may attend and participate. Only those towns with a representative Town Meeting format could opt for a virtual session.
During his last meeting as a member of the Select Board, Andy Schultz took the opportunity to again request that the board reconsider its previous 4-1 vote to hold Town Meeting indoors at NRHS. He was the lone dissenter two weeks earlier in advocating for an outdoor Town Meeting to be held on the Arthur J. Kenney turf field. Schultz cited the concerns expressed to him by many elderly members of the town who fear attending the Town Meeting if held indoors. “If we can do it in a better, more safe environment, why wouldn’t we do it?” he asked, “especially since the state put out guidance after our last vote.”
Finance Committee member Don Kelliher also strongly urged the Select Board to reconsider moving it from an indoor meeting location to an open air location, like the football field.
Referring to the state guidance, Kelliher said, “It strongly suggests that towns like ours that can’t do virtual meetings that the meeting be held outside just as a matter of public safety. If you think about the fact that we limit the number of people who can go into Stop & Shop or CVS or any of the other establishments in town, it doesn’t make sense to want to bring however many people attend Town Meeting into an enclosed area. It is much more risk than we will allow the general public to do in daily shopping activities. I am with Mr. Schultz.”
Kelliher added that the state’s guidance “was pretty clear if you can’t social distance” a facial covering must be worn. “I think that should be reconsidered in the guidance for the people attending Town Meeting no matter where it is.”
Abby Hurlbut, FinCom chairwoman, stated that COVID-19 should not be categorized as only affecting the elderly because doing so promotes an incorrect message that may further isolate the elderly while encouraging 35-year-olds to do whatever they want. “Senior citizens are not more likely to get COVID-19. They are less likely to survive it easily, but everyone shares in equal access to COVID-19,” Hurlbut said, adding, “and in fact if you look at stats in Middleton and a number of other communities, over 50% of the cases are between ages 30-60, so I think we have to be very careful about deciding that this is a ‘senior disease,’ which not only suggests that somebody who is 35 can do what they want, but it also suggests that seniors will get quite isolated if that continues.”
Town Moderator John Murphy reported being “somewhat dismayed” that a majority of the Select Board voted to hold the June 29 Annual Town Meetings indoors as his personal preference would be to hold the meeting outdoors.
“I spend my entire day making sure that my staff and my members or customers are safe and I’ve delayed my board meeting to an indefinite period of time,” Murphy said. “I understand outdoors you’ve got weather but it surprised me because this isn’t going away any time soon. We are not even at the ‘new normal’ yet and I think the health and safety of everyone is of paramount importance.”
Select Board member Liane Gonzalez addressed Kelliher’s concern regarding the use of facial coverings. “I don’t believe we ever said it was optional whether you wore a mask; we were just trying to accommodate people who may have issues that they cannot wear a mask; they have asthma or whatever reason…because they do have a right to be there and to have their voice heard also.”
Kelliher replied “that wasn’t my reading but I stand corrected if that is not what the message in the warrant said.”
Manupelli said the decision on where to hold the Town Meeting “was not made lightly” and the option to use the gymnasium over the Performing Arts Center was done to facilitate physical distancing protocols. She also noted that the board was under time constraints required to get the warrant published and mailed to the public on time, therefore a decision had to be made at their last meeting on June 1.
Gilleberto explained that the “standing guidance that was issued by the Mass. Municipal Association stated that you could not include a requirement that folks wear a mask in order for them to participate in an open Town Meeting, so there is a message in the warrant, when it finally arrives at people’s homes, that indicates that fact. But it also indicates if they choose not to wear a mask that ‘they may be seated in a separate section.’ Subsequent to that, the Board of Health had a meeting on Thursday evening where they determined that that ‘separate section’ would actually be a separate room, which we’ve identified as the Distance Learning Lab.”
The Board of Health has “issued a very strong recommendation, which we intend to implement,” the T.A. said.
Manupelli asked the T.A. if the Board of Health is going to take up the issue again at their meeting on June 18. “I believe they are going to take it up and I relayed it to the Moderator as well that he may wish to participate in that discussion,” Gilleberto said.
“Before the warrant was published, the Board of Health was aware of the decision to hold this indoors,” Manupelli said.
Town Counsel Darren Klein noted that “the guidance from the state Department of Health literally came out within the hour of the Board of Health meeting finishing Thursday night, so part of this is just unfortunate timing.”
The Board of Health has been meeting virtually at least weekly, on Thursdays at 7 p.m., throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and sometimes more often than weekly.
“So at this point, as printed in the warrant, Town Meeting will be held indoors, but it will be held at the school property no matter what” the outcome of the next Board of Health meeting, Manupelli stated. Gilleberto said that was his understanding.
Schultz suggested that the board take a poll on whether to hold the meeting outdoors given the change in the state guidelines. He also asked if there would be a “publication requirement” if the venue for the Town Meeting changed again at this point.
Attorney Klein explained there are two ways to enable a venue change for Town Meeting. Under the first option, “the Moderator, the Town Clerk and one member of the board opened up the meeting in the gymnasium with a motion by the board member to change the venue. Hopefully that same board member votes in favor of the motion and it passes. Then everyone else, who would have already been notified, would be waiting at the outdoor location.”
The second way would be notification requirements with a declaration that could be satisfied. There is no minimum timeline within the special legislation but it does say “as soon as practicable,” Klein said.
Schultz asked what the board members thought of this to provide an opinion to the Board of Health since the state guidance “clearly said to have it outside if you can” and “time is of the essence.”
Select Board member Stephen O’Leary said he believes the board took both “deliberate” and “appropriate action” in choosing the venue and he does not believe they should be “overly alarming people in relation to the decision that we made. …I am confident it is going to be safe.”
“We had a lengthy discussion and I don’t think the guidance from the state has changed at all. They’ve always encouraged the outside (option) and we talked about inside vs. outside and looked at the venues we had where we could safely congregate people,” O’Leary said. “We have pared down the warrant so that there will be very little discussion and very little time spent together. Weather is a ‘big if’ here. We are not anticipating more than 100 people in total for a very short period of time to do the town’s business and get in and get out. I think the gymnasium provides more than adequate safe space,” he said.
Select Board member Rich Wallner added that with regard to the weather there would be more to consider that just thunderstorms. His main concern with an outdoor Town Meeting in June would be the potential for it being too hot. “The most effective thing you can do to prevent transmission is to wear your mask,” Wallner said.
“No one has ever been in this position before. We did take a lot of time to deliberate it and it is one or the other here. We are trying to make it as best as possible. Elderly people are not the only people concerned about COVID-19; a lot of people of all different ages are, so we will do the best that we can and one of the reasons we are having the informational hearings (tonight is) to try to address questions that citizens have on the warrant articles,” Manupelli said.