The town of Jaffrey has delayed its Town Meeting once again, to June 6, but what form the meeting will take is up in the air.
During its meeting Monday, the Jaffrey Select Board agreed to delay the meeting again. Originally, the March Town Meeting was delayed to May 16, after it was determined that a Jaffrey town employee has potentially been exposed to COVID-19. The board decided Monday they were not able to move forward with that date with current gathering restrictions.
However, the board said they didn’t know what social distancing mandates would be in place in June, and have begun making plans for an alternate form of Town Meeting, though they did not make a final decision this week.
Town Manager Jon Frederick proposed the town use a model currently being implemented by the Bow School District, a process which was approved by the state. In that model, the board would livestream a presentation of the warrant articles, with a call-in line to receive questions and comments. Residents will also have several days after the presentation to submit questions and comments, and there will be a follow-up livestream to address those concerns. Then, residents would vote on a separate day, in a “drive through” vote, where residents will show their identification to the supervisors of the checklist from their car, vote with a pre-printed ballot or one provided on site, vote in their car, and then provide the moderator with the ballots.
The first session of that process in Bow was delayed a week when the live-streaming of the warrant presentation failed.
Selectman Jack Belletete said he would prefer an option that allowed the process to happen in a single day. He suggested the town look into hosting the meeting at Conant High School, using multiple rooms, including the gym and the cafeteria, and broadcasting the meeting in both areas simultaneously. All voting in that case would have to be done by ballot, but the town could debate, amend and approve articles in a single meeting.
Board chair Frank Sterling said there wasn’t a guarantee the district would allow the town to use the space. The board had also looked into using Franklin Pierce University, and was told they were not allowing outside visitors on campus.
The board also considered having the meeting in an outdoor venue, but Sterling said there would be the potential for weather delays in that case.
The board didn’t make a final decision on the matter, but directed Frederick to look further into Belletete’s suggestion of using multiple rooms at the Conant High School or other locations, in respect to the set up that would take, whether they would be allowed to use the space, and if such an arrangement would be acceptable to the state requirements.