The Newport Commission is considering an ordinance allowing any board member who cannot physically attend a meeting to participate by video teleconference.
The ordinance brought up at Monday’s commission meeting was drafted with the idea of allowing board members to still participate in meetings when they are out of town, have an illness, etc., and cannot be there in person. The ordinance does limit the number of remote attendees to two members at a given time.
“Government typically is slow to react to changing technology, and this is something that really what I’m trying to do is to stay with the technology,” Newport Manager Tom Fromme said. “You can be anywhere and be in the meeting. We’ve proven that with our remote meetings during the COVID era.”
Should the ordinance pass, the city must follow specific requirements. The remote attendees must be visible and be heard by the public. The physical location of the meeting will continue to be held in the city’s multipurpose room in the Newport Municipal Building located at 998 Monmouth Street and will be open to the public.
Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr. asked City Attorney Dan Braun to elaborate on the research that went into the ordinance. He said the city had discussed the item on multiple occurrences.
“It appears as long as the person can be seen and heard, the public can view it with the demeanor taken over their faces, and they can respond accordingly,” Braun said. “That’s all still proper and can be done in that fashion and form.”
Braun said he has already started working with the city clerk on language that would be added to agenda meetings should someone attend a meeting remotely.
Guidugli also asked at the meeting if the city had the proper equipment to execute the idea. Fromme said they would have a solution by the time the system was adopted.
Newport Commissioner Ken Rechtin asked the council Monday why they were keeping the limit to two people and not extending it to three or four.
Fromme said the reasoning was to maintain an in-person meeting quorum to distinguish between a remote meeting and an in-person one.
“If three of us were absent and phoning in, we have a quorum because it’s a legal meeting,” Rechtin said. “I’m in a quandary as to why we’re at two and not three or four. Anyway, I’m interested to hear what the public has to say.”
The ordinance held its first reading on Monday. It will be voted on for adoption at the next meeting on Nov. 20.
