Weston Select Board backs remote voting legislation, defers committee formation

WESTON -- July 8, 2025, Weston's Select Board backed state legislation to enable remote town meeting voting but left its own committee structure unresolved. At the July 8 meeting, all five members, Chair Lise N. Revers, Clerk John F. McDonald, and members Alfred L. Aydelott, Anupam Sachdev, and Rebecca J. Mercuri, expressed support for House Bill 2274, which would allow any Massachusetts town to adopt remote participation, with Sachdev volunteering to lobby state legislators directly. McDonald presented a draft charge for a five-member exploratory committee focused on remote voting technology, citing an 80 percent approval rate in a Concord survey and endorsements from the MMA and League of Women Voters of Massachusetts; Town Moderator Rip cautioned that implementation was being proposed before the community had fully deliberated the question, pointing to Concord's six-month study committee as a model. The board voted unanimously to tighten its appointment policy, requiring all incumbents and new applicants to formally reapply for open positions, and to set the Council on Aging board at 11 members, down from 13, at the request of COA Chair Joan Heilbrunner, who cited repeated quorum difficulties. A disputed $924 water bill from 47 Rolling Lane was sent back for administrative recalculation using a prior-period usage baseline, to return as a consent agenda item.