By Kristen Levine

In a step forward to keeping up with the rapidly advancing world of technology, the Board of Selectmen debated in the meeting Tuesday night about the benefits of remote participation.

    Proposed by a Sewer Commission member who will be traveling the world extensively in the coming months on business, the remote participation plan seeks to invest in the use of the Internet and Webcams for continued community participation. The computer program Skype, which allows users to utilize a computer as a video-audio system and communicate from anywhere in the world, would be a key component to the plan’s success.

    “I asked around the other boards, committees and commissions, and there was a three-to-one margin of people in favor for this,” Town Manager Kerry Speidel said. “[But] there were a few concerns raised.”

    These concerns call for precise definition of disability, illness, geographic distance, and military service – the criteria under which a town official would be allowed to use the remote participation plan.

    The traveling Sewer Commission member would fit the bill of geographic distance, such as communicating from countries such as Germany. Military service was a more prickly subject, raising the question of stationing in in-state military bases, and if that distance qualifies for use of the plan.

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