Selectmen Discuss Tablets or Laptops for Town Meetings

Techonology has been a hot topic during this year's budget season, and the Board of Selectmen took some time out this week to talk about digitizing town meetings as a way to increase efficiency.

Selectman Phil LoChiatto brought up the topic, explaining that it would be more effective to be able to look through spreadsheets and the agenda without having to worry about packets of paper.

"I think at some point we need to stop kicking and dragging our heels into the future," LoChiatto said.

Town Administrator Dave Sullivan referenced some of the surplus remaining in the upcoming budget from health insurance to workers' compensation. He suggested some of that surplus could fund the technology upgrade.

LoChiatto said to leave the idea in the hands of the Information and Technology Services Department, which is currently entrenched in an effort to upgrade the town from a technological standpoint.

Assistant Town Administrator Dana Call said that meeting rooms in other towns have computers at the workstations in the board rooms, allowing each board who used the room to access the technology.

Another possibility suggested by LoChiatto was the funding of laptops or tablets that are held by each board member until his or her term is complete.

Selectman Ross McLeod suggested that the Planning Board of Zoning Board of Adjustment might be the best place to start with technology upgrades.

"They are so document intensive," he said. "They come with reams and reams of paper."

Fire Chief Tom McPherson said that he has seen several educators at school using tablets, but Sullivan said that they get a huge education discount to fund the technology that towns don't get.

LoChiatto suggested that with the new technological backbone that the town has discussed that there should be some way with secure servers to provide board members with real-time access to information at a meeting.