Swampscott meetings will employ new technologies

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott board and committee members will now have a whole new meaning for the term “calling in sick” with the new option for telecommunication approved at the Board of Selectmen meeting Wednesday night.Town Administrator Thomas Younger presented the idea of “remote participation” in which absent voting members call in using video conference technology similar to Skype or Apple?s FaceTime. Younger said the option had proved useful at Finance Committee meetings when he worked in Belmont and Ipswich.Younger said though all boards and committees will have the option of the teleconference, the chairman of each committee has the ability to say the members cannot partake in it, especially for committees like the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board because members need to be able to review documents and plans during the meetings.Younger said there will be limits for the option. The person on-screen during the meeting must be “clearly audible” from all areas of the room, the chairman must always be in attendance and, in cases of executive session, the participating member must give testimony that he/she is the only person in attendance.Younger said it should only be used about three times a year for cases of emergency, military service, personal injury or disability, or geographic distance. “The reason can?t be, ?I want to go to the Celtics game,?” said Younger.?What about if you have an emergency Patriots game?” joked Selectman Jill Sullivan.Younger said not many communities have accepted the teleconference option yet, but some who already have it in practice are Chelmsford, Duxbury and Natick.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].