June Town Meeting postponed

May 12, 2020

The Spring Town Meeting has been postponed until later in June due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Select Board decided in a remote meeting on May 11. 

The new date has yet to be determined.

Originally scheduled for June 2, the meeting requires a quorum of 152 members — a number that is potentially unsafe to gather in one room given current social distancing guidelines.

New dates and the possibility of holding a remote Town Meeting on a virtual platform were discussed at the Select Board meeting.

Town counsel Anthony Savastano noted that there is legislation pending in the state government to allow representative town meetings like Dartmouth’s to be held remotely.

“We know it would be a bit cumbersome,” he noted. “But...We have concerns based on the age of a lot of our town meeting members, and the large size of the quorum, that we may not reach a quorum if we have an in-person meeting.”

“Not all town meeting members will be able to [hold a meeting] via Zoom,” noted Town Clerk Lynn Medeiros. “How are you going to accommodate those that can’t?”

“You might just have people who don’t know how to use a computer,” she added.

Spring Town Meeting must take place before the start of the fiscal year on July 1, according to state statute — and with the town election on June 23, Town Meeting will have to take place before that date or any newly elected members wouldn’t get the warrant in time.

As for the where and how, there were plenty of ideas tossed around. 

“We can have it at the stadium,” said Select Board member David Tatelbaum. 

“Outdoors,” agreed chair Stanley Mickelson with a laugh.

“Eventually it’s gonna have to be as late as possible in order to get people comfortable enough to sit elbow to elbow with people, because we don’t have a bigger place to have a Town Meeting,” noted board member Frank Gracie III.

As for the virtual option, he joked, “I can’t wait to do a meeting like this for Town Meeting!”

“Yeah, it’ll be four days,” laughed Mickelson.

The board ultimately decided to determine a date at its next meeting on June 1.