Above: The Town website posts upcoming meetings, but often with too short notice for residents trying to follow issues. (website screenshot)
I’m revisiting a post I wrote earlier this year. In February, I took a look at how the Town (through its website) is doing to improve transparency. The answer was it was still falling a bit short.
Given recent complaints from two readers, I decided to look at how the Town shares meeting notices.
On Monday morning, no future meetings were posted. Some have been posted since. But the main issue is that the Town only posts meetings once the official agenda is submitted to the Town Clerk. So, even when a board has meetings scheduled well in advance, it may not be posted on the website until about 2 weekdays prior.
It’s something that had irked me. But until this week, I though I was alone. After the complaints, I decided to check what the practice is in other towns.
Of our direct neighbors, only Ashland (the previous employer of our Town Administrator) doesn’t post meeting dates in advance of agendas. Hopkinton, Marlborough, Westborough and Framingham all post meeting dates of boards/committees in advance.
Yet, even if Southborough adopts neighbors’ practice, it may not solve the underlying issue behind complaints. After all, I’m not sure how many residents want to know in advance what dates a board is meeting without knowing what is on the agenda. And I didn’t see clear evidence that other Towns were better about sharing discussion items scheduled for agendas any further in advance.
But, it does feels like a ball was dropped. Over a year ago, selectmen projected that once the new website was launched, residents would be able to sign up for news on meetings and updates they care about. That has failed to pass.
Currently, the News Flash, and Project Updates sections of the website seem under utilized. (My understanding through the grapevine is that they aren’t user friendly.) And although I signed up to receive all the Town e-alerts, only 13 have gone out since the site launch. None have been issued that relate to board meetings/actions or controversial political issues residents follow – like the Park Central development or Medical Marijuana Dispensary hearings.
Neighboring towns also offer options for signing up for email alerts for news. What I don’t know is what they share/how the execution compares. (Perhaps readers who recently lived in other towns and can share their opinons in the comments.)
The good news is that the Town is continuing to work on improving openness. Since my February post, the Zoning Board added a section posting their decisions. (It was on the previous Town website but not originally included in the new site.)
Plus, three committees joined the seven already posting minutes to the website. That’s in addition to eight that share them on their own external sites. That still leaves 17 committees that haven’t posted minutes. But an article passed at Town Meeting requires boards to submit minutes to the Town Clerk’s office in a timely manner going forward. So that should hopefully change soon.
