Since area towns’ boards and committees began meeting on Zoom and YouTube due to the pandemic, and some still are, have you been viewing and/or participating in meetings you would not have, had they been in person? Some panels early on reported remote meetings raised attendance notably. Of late, I’ve noticed turnout varying more.

I noted in a December 2020 editorial, less than a year into the pandemic, you can’t catch COVID-19 on Zoom, YouTube, or UberConference. While many of us have been vaccinated three times now, and many still wear face masks, it’s still true: Online is safe from viruses, except computer ones. But people understandably want normal back, and the tide, supported by the vaccines and by ebbs in cases, appears to be going that way, with some precautions still in place.

So should all these boards and committees be meeting in person again? Many are and have been for several months, at least; some no longer offer a remote option; others do and some still meet fully remotely except for an occasional hearing where big attendance is hoped for; then it’s been off to Wiscasset Community Center for Wiscasset selectmen or, for Alna’s planning board recently, the fire station. 

In-person has its pluses – better discourse, arguably, no risk of the outages or glitches that have thwarted or ended some remote or hybrid meetings, and not everyone has adequate internet or skills, although Wiscasset and some other towns and the Wiscasset-based National Center for Digital Equity are working on that. But it would be too bad to drop remote meeting access altogether, if it lost those people who watch but who wouldn’t have time, or take the time, to go in person. They’re still voters. A remote component lets them watch the live meetings or recordings towns make and share on their websites or YouTube.

Public meetings, whether remote or inside a hopefully ventilated room at a town office, a community center, or a fire station, help educate voters on town business. Remote access has become a part of that and, if towns can sustain it as some have throughout the pandemic, the added access it provides would be good to keep, not replacing in-person but adding to the exposure town business gets.

Week’s positive parting thought: Enjoy this February thaw, and spots of bare ground appearing where ice was.