WHATELY – The Whately Selectboard waffled on a vaccine mandate for the town’s public buildings, voted against the idea, then reconsidered. By the end of the meeting, the board did adopt a vaccine mandate, but only for private events where enforcement is not the town’s responsibility.

Town buildings are still closed to committee meetings.

Town Coordinator Brian Domina kicked off the discussion by summarizing the recommendations of the Board of Health. “Participants must be masked, socially distanced, and fully vaccinated, with medical exemptions allowed.” Domina also relayed additional recommendations for limits on attendance at 50 percent of room capacity, air purification, and contact tracing.

Selectboard member Joyce Palmer-Fortune stood firmly with the Board of Health when, during discussion, she said, “I’m not inclined to ask less than the Board of Health recommended.”

Selectboard Chair Jonathan Edwards said, “The only way that we implement what the Board of Health recommends is if we come up with a whole enforcement mechanism, which we’re not prepared to do right now … So I think a mask mandate is appropriate, but I think we can also strongly encourage vaccination” rather than make it required.

Selectman Fred Baron agreed, but saw no way the town could effectively police attendees for vaccination status. “As far as what we do,” Baron said, “as far as a requirement or mandate, I think we’re not in a position to have a town enforced mandate.”

“They’re recommending that participants must be … fully vaccinated. I think it’s okay to put that onus on an event organizer’s plate,” Palmer-Fortune said, in reference to the monitoring of vaccination status. “I don’t want to override the Board of Health’s recommendation.”

Palmer-Fortune made a motion to re-open town buildings, and to require masking, social distancing, and full vaccination for in-person attendance of events in town buildings. The motion did not receive a second.

Edwards and Baron discussed the difficulty of enforcement. Palmer-Fortune argued that a motion strongly urging vaccination was meaningless. Baron replied, “It’s meaningless not to enforce” a vaccine mandate, which the town could not do, according to Edwards.

The chair and Baron composed and made a motion, which passed after a 2-1 roll call vote. Domina   dramatized the problems he foresaw. “You want the event organizer to … to make a statement that the unvaccinated are strongly encouraged to not stay?”

“That’s why we have the remote option,” said Palmer-Fortune.

Domina was the first to mention the difficulty of enforcement. He assured Baron that town offices, where meetings are sometimes hosted, featured the necessary equipment for those who wish to attend remotely.

“I think we should continue to meet via Zoom, and only Zoom, for the foreseeable future,” said Edwards. “I think this format works great.”

Edwards soon became the catalyst for reversing his own motion.

The Selectboard carried out business. The board discussed insurance. Members voted to take out a loan at .35 percent interest. A grant for $2,700 to buy the fire chief his own radio was accepted. The Selectboard adopted a $50 licensing fee for permits to sell alcohol.

“I want to revisit the public meeting thing for a second, in terms of vaccinations,” Edwards said. “Why don’t we keep mandated Zoom meetings, for public meetings, for the foreseeable future, and not open this kettle of fish?”

“I think it’s better we go with the recommendation of the Board of Health,” said Palmer-Fortune.

Orlovsky much preferred in-person meetings, “As long as we’re not threatening anyone’s health.”

Edwards wanted to make a motion, and was counseled by Domina that the motion, previously passed, had to be reconsidered. The Selectboard members easily repealed the motion passed earlier in the meeting.

“Now we don’t have to do anything?” Edwards asked.

“You’re going to be where you were before,” said Domina. “Town buildings are closed and … town buildings are closed.”

“And that’s not what the Board of Health wanted,” Palmer-Fortune said.

“I would have no problem hearing a motion to require event organizers have everyone in a meeting show evidence of vaccination,” Edwards said. “This is just for events…The Grange, Historical Society, Watermelon Wednesdays, those types of gatherings.”

Baron suggested sharpened language. “Private meetings, or other public events, not under the color of town government.”

“If I get a call from the Planning Board, for instance,” Domina said, foreseeing complaints. “You’re allowing someone else to meet in a public building, why can’t we meet in a public building?”

Edwards made a motion to institute a vaccine mandate for all private events held in town buildings. Palmer-Fortune had not lost sight of her goal.

Can we, she asked, “adopt the recommendation of the Board of Health for non-town business related meetings and events in our public buildings? Participants must be masked, socially distance, and fully vaxxed, with medical exemptions allowed. Meeting or event coordinators are required to enforce. If we adopt that for non-town related meetings, then our town meetings are still governed by the policy we adopted regarding all meetings being remote.     

Palmer-Fortune added, “and we look at it every two weeks.”

Edwards replied, “I’ll consider that a motion.”

Palmer-Fortune’s motion passed 3-0.

Baron clarified that groups have methods for policing vaccination status of those attending events at Town Hall and that in-person government is waiting in the wings.

“What we’re doing here is putting enforcement in the hands of private groups,” he said. “They have enforcement mechanisms of exclusion from the group, and non-invitation to future meetings, that the town does not have with regard to public meetings. (But) doing this doesn’t say we mean to go to Zoom meetings indefinitely.”

Official Whately town meetings will still be exclusively remote, as decided by the Selectboard vote. Those who attend private events held at the Town Hall, or other town buildings, will be required to wear masks, maintain social distancing, and show evidence of vaccination.

“The Town Hall is open to any individual or nonprofit who wants to rent it, or use the space,” Domina said. “They would be asked to follow those requirements.”