The Town of Webb Board has decided to take a closer look at the letters it receives before reading them into the public record at its meetings, according to a resolution passed by the board at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 11.
Previously, correspondence addressed to the board by constituents and others had in general been read aloud by the supervisor at a meeting.
This served to inform to the larger public as to constituent concerns and to allow discussion, if desired, by those attending the meeting.
But Supervisor Robert Moore said some inaccuracies in recent letters have caused him to rethink the practice.
Councilwoman Kate Russell said she shares Moore’s concern. Russell said she did not want the board to be responsible for putting forth faulty information to the public at its meetings.
And the reading of unsolicited letters can create other problems as well, according to Moore.
He cited recent letters that dealt with Stillwater and Beaver River issues as examples.
Although those letters contained opinions that may have a measure of value to the board, there was also a downside Moore said.
According to the supervisor, those letters ended up taking on a lives of their own and resulted in a frenzied back-and-forth between letter writers.
The exercise wound up being time consuming with limited value to the board in its dealings and deliberations, Moore said.
In support of his position that letters be screened before being read publicly, so as to ensure accuracy and usefulness, Moore said he presented the issue to the Association of Towns.
“They informed me that it is not required that we read correspondence,” Moore said.
“We can accept correspondence, and distribute correspondence to those who it’s addressed to. And that’s the end of our obligation. In spite of past practices, we have the authority and the right to conduct our meetings and refrain from reading correspondence at length—at our discretion,” he said.
Councilman J.B. Herron seemed concerned about what could be seen as a selective policy.
“I agree that if we are not going to read every letter, then we probably shouldn’t read any,” he said.
The board agreed that certain types of correspondance, such as thank-yous and accolades, should be shared publicly.
“I guess it’s a discretionary call,” said Supervisor Moore.
So on a motion by Councilman Richard Risley, seconded by Councilwoman Russell and passed by unanimous vote, which included Councilman Mike Ross, the board resolved to handle its correspondance differently in the future.
Correspondence will be received, distributed to the board members and the necessary personel, and noted as part of the agenda.
But whether it is read publicly in full, in part or not at all, is left to the discretion of the board.
