Special Town Board mtg 2/29 on committee plans
The Town Board heard from citizen committee chairs about their respective committees’ annual goals for 2024.
Most of the presented goals were uncontroversial. The general consensus of the board at the end of the presentation was that board members had presented reasonable ideas and shown strong investment in working on goals that will improve the Town.
There was discussion about a Communications Committee goal to research the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to summarize Town Board meetings. The board discussed the potential bias of an AI generated / committee edited report; and the redundancy of a summary, given that recordings of board meetings are available the day after the meetings, and meeting minutes are available after the board has approved them. One suggestion to allow for more efficient public access to the content of board meetings was to time stamp the recording so that a viewer could find board interactions re: an agenda item easily. Chair John Wapner said he will be bringing these ideas to the committee.
Board member Rick Werwaiss said that he had not yet called a meeting of the Conservation Advisory Committee because an issue with membership on that committee is as yet unresolved.
Board member Angus Eaton said that the Zoning Update Committee and the Housing Committee will meet on March 11 to hone in on adjusting zoning laws to address identified housing needs for the town, and will collaborate with that committee as needed. In another bow to collaboration, Grants Committee Chair Bonnie Schoonmaker said she wants to work with any committee who identifies grants that will further their success in meeting their goals.
In other business, the board appointed Sarah McWilliams to the Housing Committee; Shelly Haefner to the Parks & Recreation Committee; Betsy Winters-Russell as member and co-chair of the Parks & Recreation Committee; and Josh Bennett to the Climate Smart Action Task Force Committee.
The board also approved and endorsed the application for a NYS grant that will allow the town to convert and store town records in digital format.