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<p class="MsoNormal">Hi Colleen,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We have always run our Zoom PB meetings as <i>meetings</i> and have never run into much of an issue with people speaking outside of the public comment period. It does require staff to be quick on the mute button every once in a while, but
we start each meeting with a disclaimer that we will mute people if they are unknowingly unmuted or at the chair’s request. I find it less chaotic than in-person meetings! Our PB rarely uses executive sessions but I imagine the breakout rooms feature in
<i>meetings</i> would be the best way to achieve this in Zoom.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You did make me think that Zoom <i>webinar </i>is better suited to how we use it though.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mike McCarthy<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Asst. City Planner<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">New Bedford<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces@masscptc.org>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Colleen Canning via MassPlanners<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, August 3, 2023 10:46 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> massplanners@masscptc.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [EXTERNAL] [Massplanners] Virtual Executive Session<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Re: Virtual Executive Session </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Hi Planners, </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">I would like to hear about successful experiences holding fully virtual executive session.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">As I understand, to satisfy the letter of the law, a board must enter a ‘regular’ meeting and then the chair calls the meeting into executive session. This appears to pose a challenge
with the limitations of hosting a zoom webinar/meeting.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">For our typical meetings we have had success with zoom
<i>webinar</i> as ‘panelists’ (board members, staff and applicants) are in view and ‘attendees’ (members of the public) are not in view and can only speak after ‘raising hand’ and being called upon by the chair to be promoted to ‘panelist’. I imagine this is
how many planning boards use Zoom. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">In my ideal version of a virtual executive session, we'd host a zoom webinar as typical and then I’d manually remove all attendees when we enter executive session. During executive
session, new attendees would be in a virtual ‘ waiting room’ until a point at which executive session has ended and then I’d authorize all attendees to join. Unfortunately, it appears that zoom<i> meeting
</i>(not zoom webinar) is the platform which allows for a ‘waiting room’. Zoom<i> meeting</i> is great for informal meetings but invites a level of chaos when hosting a public meeting. Zoom meeting does not allow for a separate ‘attendee’ category as all who
join can be seen on camera and can speak without prior authorization.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Thank you for your responses!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Colleen Canning<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Planning/Conservation Coordinator <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt">(413)-538-5030 X6127</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:ccanning@southhadleyma.gov" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt">ccanning@southhadleyma.gov</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
*Do not print this email unless necessary<o:p></o:p></p>
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