Lincoln Selectmen adopt one-year remote participation policy for town boards

LINCOLN -- October 7, 2013, Lincoln Selectmen adopt one-year remote participation trial and appoint Susan Collins to the CPC. The board unanimously approved a policy drafted by Selectman Renel Fredrickson and Town Administrator Tim Higgins that lets board members phone into meetings under state-permitted grounds, illness, disability, family or other emergency, military service or significant geographic distance, with two Polycom-equipped rooms in the town office building and a one-year review built in. Chair Peter Braun secured added language that remote participation is "not solely for convenience" and a "best efforts" qualifier on the equipment commitment. The board also appointed former Parks and Recreation Chair Susan Collins to a three-year CPC term, and Green Energy Chair John Snell reported the town has leveraged roughly $475,000 in grants against just over $200,000 in town funds toward a 20 percent municipal energy-reduction target now about half met.