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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com SOCIAL MEDIA AND TRANSPARENCY
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Planners begin medical marijuana review
Open Meetings in the Digital Age Where is the line between personal conversation and policy drawn? And how thin a line is there?
By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – As social media grows more powerful in shaping the daily lives of everyday Americans, capable of shifting public opinion and shaping policy, lawmakers around the country are starting to examine these evolving mediums to see if they are creating avenues of communication that elected officials are possibly breaking the law with. Over the past few years, officials ranging from President Barak Obama to Governor Deval Patrick to Mayor Daniel M. Knapik have often used Facebook and Twitter to make announcements and reach out to their constituents. But where is the line between personal conversation and policy drawn? And how thin a line is there? “Technology is very different today. The Internet has made it easy for people to get hold of things,” said State Senator Don Humason, Jr. (R-Westfield), adding that the capabilities of the Internet have made legislative communication much more efficient and, in some states, fulfilled a necessary need. “In big states like Texas, when some officials are multiple hours from the capital, you might not be able to get everyone in a room at the same time.” “In the City of Westfield, elected officials are very sensitive to communication, whether it be via email or at the Sons of Erin on St. Patrick’s Day, that may be considered outside of an open meeting,” Humason said. “Remote participation is one of the issues we’re dealing with (in the House),” said Humason’s former colleague, Rep. Peter Kocot
makes our feet and fingers glow.” — Sara Coleridge
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 9
“January brings the snow,
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Planning Board has begun the review and revision of two proposed ordinances the city will eventually adopt to control medical marijuana facilities in the city and ensure that those facilities comply with state law and standards. The Board began its review with the zoning ordinance, which will replace the existing ordinance, Section 4-90 which now prohibits the sale of drug paraphernalia. The revised ordinance has definitions, regulated uses for dispensaries and marijuana processing facilities, as well as other requirements and provisions. The proposed zoning ordinance would limit dispensaries to the Industrial Zone through site approval processes and in Business B districts by special permit. One of the fist issues raised by Planning Board members is the proposal to have the Planning Board conduct the site plan review and the City Council conduct the special permit review. “I would like it to be one or the other, either the Planning Board See Marijuana, Page 3
State Senator Don Humason, Jr. (R-Westfield)
MAYOR DANIEL M. KNAPIK
(D-Northampton), who represents Montgomery in his First Hampshire District and has sponsored a bill dealing with transitioning meeting documents to an eDocument-based system. “If you have a board, there’s a snowstorm and you want to deliberate on an issue, how do you do that? It’s a unique issue in western Massachusetts because you’ve got 30-something towns without highspeed Internet.” Kocot said that the issues of access, equity, and transparency regarding remote participation are among the biggest facing the State’s Open Meeting Law Advisory Commission, of which he is a member. As Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Suzanne Scallion said the city’s School Committee is “extremely cautious” in dealings outside of the boardroom, especially using social media. “We are very well-versed,” said Scallion, who credits Committee Chairman Knapik, an avid social
DR. SUZANNE SCALLION
media user, for keeping the Committee on the straight and narrow regarding these mediums. “We don’t use email to communicate business, but we have a school committee file for certain items which we bring to the next meeting.” Scallion says she fields a fair amount of calls weekly from city residents related to misinformation shared on social media. “It’s a blessing and a curse,” she said. “People need to put it in neutral and verify things as true before sharing them (on social media).” Knapik said that the city committees he is on get the open meeting law. “The principle of the law is clear — you can’t communicate with any quorum outside of a meeting,” he said. “That’s the overriding principle.” Knapik likened the violation of open meeting laws via social media to See Open Meetings, Page 5
Jurors’ comments no problem in Westfield court By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The explosion of social communication options which resulted from the digital revolution has made it easier – and perhaps more attractive – for persons involved in criminal trials to forget the rules designed to shield jurors for outside influences as they perform their civic service. The problem came under the spotlight recently when a city official in Northampton was chosen for jury duty and discussed on a social networking website the case he had been asked to help decide. In Westfield District Court, officials have not experienced a similar problem according to Nathan Byrnes, the court’s assistant clerk magistrate. In the Westfield court, Byrnes said, “Jurors are ordered immediately to not discuss a case with anyone” and said that the prohibition extends to discussion using any social media. He also said that the jurors are told to not even talk about the type of case they might have been selected for because, he said, even a general discussion of a class of crime could influence a juror. In addition to the prohibition on discussing cases, jurors are discouraged from doing any independent research, he said, so their decision will be based solely
on what they hear in court. He said that jurors are told not to research their case, or similar cases, online and told not to visit the crime scene independently. “Basically (we’re) trying to keep them isolated to what goes on in the courtroom (in order) to eliminate outside influences,” Byrnes said. Byrnes said that he does not know of any instance of improper discussion by a participant of any case in the Westfield court and said that court officials do not try to check on jurors by methods such as attempting to visit their pages on social websites to see if they have posted any comments about their court service. He said that, if a problem arose, sanctions would not be extreme. If a juror failed to abide by the court’s rules, although such a juror could probably be held in contempt of court, it would be more likely that he or she would simply be dismissed from the jury, Byrnes said. As for court employees, Byrnes said that loose lips are not an issue. Although almost all of the court’s documents are public records, the employees get guidelines from the Clerk Magistrate about what is appropriate to discuss outside of their workplace. “It’s a common sense issue,” he said.
Noble joins health record exchange By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD — Massachusetts has launched the next phase of an electronic medical records system designed to make it easier for doctors to pull up a patient’s medical history with the click of a button. State officials say the Mass HIway Health Information Exchange will for the first time let health care providers locate, request, and retrieve medical records from other participating health care providers across the state on a secure, interconnected system. Gov. Deval Patrick attended the launch of the system at an event Wednesday at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and said the new system would reduce health costs and improve patient care. The event included a demonstration of the new technology. Emergency doctors simulated an encounter where a patient was unresponsive. By using the new tools, they were able to electronically track down the patient’s medical records at insurers and other medical centers in real time. Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services John Polanowicz said the new technology will help providers prevent medical errors such as drug-to-drug or allergic reactions. He said it See Noble Hospital, Page 3
Library closing for insulation By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – As a result of the current attic insulation project at the Southwick Public Library, the building will be closed Jan. 13-25. Chairman of the Library Board of Trustees Michael McMahon said the library is expected to reopen at 10 a.m. on Monday January 27, 2014. During this period no fines will be charged for materials due back to the library during this period. “People should hold onto anything they have checked out of the library until it reopens,” said McMahon. The project was approved at the spring town meeting and
encompasses insulating the entire attic of the 12,000 squarefoot library. McMahon said this should finally button-up the building against the elements and save money on energy costs. “When it was built in the 1990s it was done mostly by volunteers and apparently they were trying to save money,” McMahon said. “But we’re paying for it in heating costs.” The town hired Siemens to perform an audit of all town buildings several years ago and the report stated that the heat goes right through the roof at the library. “Basically we are heating the air above the building,” See Insulation, Page 3