The Winthrop Town Council will continue to look at a more formal ordinance allowing councilors to answer questions from residents during the public comment portion of its meetings.
An official public comments answer period for the council is still being discussed in a subcommittee.
However, at last week’s council meeting, the body did vote to allow a two month trial giving the council president leeway to answer questions brought up by the public during meetings.
Precinct 3 Councilor Joe Romano said the rules and ordinance subcommittee recommended giving Council President Jim Letterie the power to decide how he wants to respond to questions while the subcommittee continues to meet on the subject.
Until the completed policy is back before the council, Letterie said he will be able to answer questions from the public either right away, if the answer is known, or at the subsequent meeting if more research is needed.
Council Vice President Suzanne Swope asked if that would include questions that the council received via email or correspondence.
“I think that would be something the committee could take a look at and expound on that,” said Letterie.
Councilor-at-Large Max Tassinari asked if there would be a back and forth with follow-up questions from the public during the public answer sessions.
“The thought process would be that if someone asked a question about funding, I would say, yes, I would put it on the agenda for the next meeting,” said Letterie. “If somebody asked how much would it be … if we had that answer we could answer it right there. So it would not be a back-and-forth discussion, it would be an answer to a public question.”
Romano said he envisions the public answer session as an avenue for responding with information that is clear and obvious and can be given in the moment.
“A response shouldn’t really take more than 15 or 30 seconds in the heat of the moment, and then the next meeting after that … maybe you can get a little more in depth,” said Romano. “I don’t think it is necessarily to be having debates during public comment.”
Letterie said his intention is to make sure questions are answered from the public.
“This puts a strict policy that if the public takes the time to come to a meeting and ask a question, within two weeks at the latest we should be able to answer that,” he said.