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Selectmen OK policy regulating public comment

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LEBANON - In an effort to keep board meetings flowing and on schedule, selectmen on Monday enacted a public participation policy hoped to eliminate protracted commenting from the public that has bogged down recent meetings.

Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson said the policy was necessary in light of recent meetings at which public commenting had taken a toll on meeting efficiency.

"This is just to better control public outbursts and get the meetings to go and move forward so we can make the deadlines," he said today.

The new policy, he said, actually allows for more public participation than ever before, with the allowance of public comment before and at the end of a meeting, as well as before and after individual agenda items within the meeting.

The policy, however, allows the board wide discretion in how much time is allowed, both for individual and on specific subjects.

But Thompson said no less than one minute would be allowed for individual residents after each agenda item and up to five minutes or even more if a quorum of the board agrees to it.

"I have no problem letting the public participate," Thompson said. "They often have points we haven't thought of."

The new policy comes in the wake of a several monthslong practice by Lebanon resident Deborah Dorey Wilson of videotaping selectmen's meetings during which she commented and asked questions freely.

Wilson, who co-administers a Facebook Page and blog called Lebanon Truth Seekers with Lebanon resident Sandy Adams, at times, however, had been given to long and emotional commenting over various topics, including one regarding the board's naming of Tom Torno as road commissioner rather than roads supervisor last month.

Wilson argued for several minutes at a recent selectmen's meeting that the board had "screwed" Torno out of his benefits by naming him commissioner, given that voters last month rejected giving benefits to any elected town official during town elections.

Several days later, however, Torno, himself, said he wanted to be named Road Commissioner and was aware it would cost him his benefits, thereby making moot Wilson's contentious claims that took up a large block of time at the earlier meeting.

Wilson said today, in fact, she agreed with the new policy, but wished the board would put a proposed ethics policy on a fast track like the public participation policy.

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