FARMINGTON — At the April 9 Select Board meeting, Chair Joshua Bell proposed moving the meetings back upstairs.
Prior to COVID-19, meetings were usually held in the conference room on the first floor. When topics were expected to draw a larger audience, the meetings were moved downstairs or to the Community Center.
Bell suggested possibly replacing the tables upstairs as they take up a lot of room and having a podium for people to speak from. He did note people would be closer together upstairs.
Selectman Dennis O’Neil said people could hear televised recordings better from the upstairs room, that it is sometimes difficult to understand what is said now. “I liked all the meetings there,” he stated. “For audience participation it is warm, cozy and cooler in the summer.” He wondered how meeting upstairs would work given that department heads may start giving reports and recognitions held.
There is a television screen upstairs, when people attended meetings via Zoom a laptop was hooked to it, Parks and Recreation Director Matthew Foster noted.
Town Manager Erica LaCroix expressed concern about using the back door if meetings were held upstairs. The back door is locked during the day, is used to access board meetings now.
“I don’t think we want to leave people able to roam the building by just leaving it open,” she said. She asked about ample parking space if the front door was used.
LaCroix also spoke of space needed by Mt. Blue Community Access TV to set up equipment in order to live stream meetings.
Those recording the meetings set up in the back corner of the room, did take up a couple of chairs, O’Neil said. Some places have cameras suspended from the ceiling, he noted.
Grants are sometimes available for that, LaCroix stated. Crossroads TV, which taped meetings in Winslow had a remote set-up, didn’t have to have cameras in the room, she noted. Cameras could also move to focus on the person speaking, she said.
One of the biggest obstacles is the tables, Bell stated.
Horseshoe shaped tables are about $400 a unit, there are lots of options available, LaCroix said. It cost about $8,000 to redo Winslow’s conference room, she noted. With a smaller room and fewer officials in Farmington, she expected the cost would be less.
“We should look at the pros and cons and see what works,” O’Neil said. “I would like to explore it.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.