[Adopted 1-29-2013 by Doc. 18]
Remote participation for all meetings of all local public bodies
in the City of Haverhill shall be subject to the authorization of
the Mayor. The Mayor's authorization shall be in writing and filed
with the City Clerk. All such remote participation shall be conducted
in accordance with the requirements of the Attorney General's Regulations,
940 CMR 29.00, and this article. Should any provision of this article
conflict with the Attorney General's Regulations, said regulations
shall take precedence over the provisions of this article. The Mayor
may revoke adoption of remote participation by filing a written notice
of revocation with the City Clerk.
A.
Members of a public body who participate remotely and all persons
present at the meeting location shall be clearly audible to each other;
B.
A quorum of the body, including the chair or, in the chair's absence,
the person authorized to chair the meeting, shall be physically present
at the meeting location, as required by MGL c. 30A, § 20(d);
C.
Members of public bodies who participate remotely may vote and shall
not be deemed absent for the purposes of MGL c. 39, § 23D;
D.
A member may not participate remotely more than six times in a calendar
year. The City Council shall determine their own limitations on a
member's ability to participate remotely.
[Amended 3-22-2022 by Doc. 40-B]
If remote participation has been adopted by the Mayor, a member
of a public body shall be permitted to participate remotely in a meeting,
in accordance with the procedures described below, if the chair or,
in the chair's absence, the person chairing the meeting, determines
that one or more of the following factors makes the member's physical
attendance unreasonably difficult:
A.
The following media are acceptable methods for remote participation.
Remote participation by any other means is not permitted. Accommodations
shall be made for any public body member who requires TTY service,
video relay service, or other form of adaptive telecommunications.
B.
When video technology is in use, the remote participant shall be
clearly visible to all persons present in the meeting location.
C.
The public body shall determine which of the acceptable methods may
be used by its members.
D.
The chair or, in the chair's absence, the person chairing the meeting
may decide how to address technical difficulties that arise as a result
of utilizing remote participation, but is encouraged, wherever possible,
to suspend discussion while reasonable efforts are made to correct
any problem that interferes with a remote participant's ability to
hear or be heard clearly by all persons present at the meeting location.
If technical difficulties result in a remote participant being disconnected
from the meeting, that fact and the time at which the disconnection
occurred shall be noted in the meeting minutes.
E.
The amount and source of payment for any costs associated with remote
participation, if any, shall be borne by the member(s) remotely participating.
A.
Any member of a public body who wishes to participate remotely shall,
as soon as reasonably possible prior to a meeting, notify the chair
or, in the chair's absence, the person chairing the meeting of his
or her desire to do so and the reason for and facts supporting his
or her request.
B.
At the start of the meeting, the chair shall announce the name of any member who will be participating remotely and the reason under § 66-5 for his or her remote participation. This information shall also be recorded in the meeting minutes.
C.
All votes taken during any meeting in which a member participates
remotely shall be by roll call vote.
D.
A member participating remotely may participate in an executive session,
but shall state at the start of any such session that no other person
is present and/or able to hear the discussion at the remote location,
unless presence of that person is approved by a simple majority vote
of the public body.
E.
When feasible, the chair or, in the chair's absence, the person chairing
the meeting shall distribute to remote participants, in advance of
the meeting, copies of any documents or exhibits that he or she reasonably
anticipates will be used during the meeting. If used during the meeting,
such documents shall be part of the official record of the meeting,
and shall be listed in the meeting minutes and retained in accordance
with MGL c. 30A, § 22.
F.
Further restriction by adopting authority. These regulations do not
prohibit any person or entity with the authority to adopt remote participation
pursuant to 940 CMR 29.10(2) from enacting policies, laws, rules or
regulations that prohibit or further restrict the use of remote participation
by public bodies within that person's or entity's jurisdiction, provided
those policies, laws, rules or regulations do not violate state or
federal law.
In case any section, paragraph or part of this article is for
any reason declared invalid or unconstitutional by any court, every
other section, paragraph, and part shall continue in full force and
effect.
