Above: Two weeks from tonight, two members of the Select Board will welcome the public to talk to them or ask them questions during a hybrid “Office Hour”. (images cropped from past Office Hours flyers)
Last week, the Select Board set its schedule for resuming monthly “Office Hours” for 2025.
On the second Tuesday evening of each month (except November)1, community members can drop in to chat with two members of the board.
The chats take place at the Town House Hearing Room, at 17 Common Street from 6:00 – 7:00 pm. However, the board has decided to add a new “hybrid” zoom option. (Details haven’t been posted. So look for a link on the Town’s website closer to each of the dates.)
The first hybrid meeting will take place on July 8th with Chair Andrew Dennington and Vice Chair Marguerite Landry.
In past promotions, the board has pitched the hours as a way to to speak to members in an informal setting. The office hours aren’t a public meeting (so they won’t be recorded or have minutes). But members often briefly recap community concerns/questions raised during office hours as part of their “Members Updates” in subsequent board meetings.
The Office Hours discussions may take place in front of other members of the public waiting for their turn to participate. If you have a more sensitive topic to broach for which you would prefer greater privacy, you can always contact members individually to ask to talk. (Click here for the page that links to the list of members of boards & committees with their email addresses. But also be aware that the emails are subject to public records requests.)
Conversely, if you’d prefer to make a “public comment” at a future meeting, the next opportunity appears to be scheduled for Tuesday, July 1st. (Stay tuned for the time and agenda.) But, unless the topic is on the agenda, there is no back and forth allowed with Select Board members when you take that route.
The board has held office hours for the past four years, but the schedules can change when the need to fit in extra meetings pops up or members have conflicts. The Town hasn’t done a great job of promoting these with sufficient advance notice. (And I haven’t done a good job keeping tabs on them for readers over the past two years!)
The good news for future events is that the schedule is now posted to the board’s website here. (And I’ve entered them into the blog’s calendar.)
Updated (6/24/25 11:23 am): I initially referred to the hours as currently all scheduled for the 2nd Tuesday of the month. I had forgotten the exception in November.
