LETTER: Allow Remote Participation by Councilmembers
In a letter, Martin Butler Court resident and the former head of the Rye City Democratic Committee Meg Cameron calls on the city council to allow for remote participation. She is a former State Assembly and City Council candidate.
Meg Cameron letter:
I’m grateful to all our City Council members for their service to the community, and the following is meant in a spirit of respectful criticism.
Last Tuesday, two US Congresswomen who had recently given birth asked the House to let new parents vote by proxy. To thwart this request, Speaker Mike Johnson shut down the House for the rest of the week. His top priority for that tumultuous period was shoring up a barrier to women’s participation; a barrier that modern technology had made obsolete.
Reading this, I recalled that last November the Rye City Council considered a related issue. NYS had suggested that, in extraordinary circumstances, municipalities let members attend meetings via videoconference. It defined extraordinary circumstances as disability, illness, caregiving responsibilities and significant or unexpected factors or events.
This suggestion is sensible and fair. There’s no downside. Consultants often attend City Council meetings remotely via four big video screens, and everyone can see and hear them clearly. Our City Council should have welcomed this – especially the Democrats, since Dems like inclusiveness.
Instead, the Council majority voted no. At the November 20 meeting, Democrats Josh Nathan, Jamie Jenson and Sara Goddard joined Republicans Bill Henderson and Keith Cunningham in voting against modernizing and democratizing City Council access.
Most of the objections were vague, like Josh Nathan’s “It’s about the character of our community.” The only concrete explanation came from Bill Henderson. He said videoconferencing was “too easy,” and added that people might use it if they couldn’t get a babysitter.
Precisely.
Allowing remote participation in a pinch would have encouraged more residents to serve in local government. Parents of young children. People acting as caregivers. Professionals with big jobs. People with health issues. This would have made our City Council more representative of Rye as a whole.
A yes vote would have allowed residents as well as Council members to participate remotely. Bill Henderson pointed this out and said it was another reason he was against it.
Unfortunately, most of our Council members nixed NYS’s invitation to make local government more accessible. Their decision is bad for Rye, and I hope they rethink it.
