Montville - The town is exploring whether it should allow members of town decision-making bodies to call in to a meeting when they are physically unable to attend. The topic arose in response to some town agencies, including the Public Safety Commission, habitually struggling to get a quorum at scheduled meetings.

"I can see isolated circumstances where it may be helpful," Mayor Ronald McDaniel said Tuesday.

A person may be stuck at work, ill, or traveling, and calling in may be that person's only option to participate in the meeting of the organization of which that person is a part, the mayor said.

However, he mostly opposed the idea. "I don't foresee a situation where we should have people calling in every month," he said.

The Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to send the topic to the Town Administration/Rules & Procedures Committee for review.

The state Freedom of Information Act defines a meeting as "any hearing or other proceeding of a public agency, any convening or assembly of a quorum of a multimember public agency, and any communication by or to a quorum of a multimember public agency, whether in person or by means of electronic equipment, to discuss or act upon a matter over which the public agency has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power."

Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission Executive Director Colleen Murphy said Monday that the law as written does not prohibit people calling in to participate and vote in meetings, mentioning that even members of the FOI commission at times have to call in. Still, she said the commission discourages meetings being conducted through telecommunication.

She said the commission views the visual component of meetings - seeing members' body language, for example - as a significant part of the communication that takes place. She also said meeting in person shows more respect for members of the public who attend in person.

Council Chairman Joseph Jaskiewicz said Tuesday that he did not know of any town policy that specifically addressed the idea of telecommuting to meetings, but said that in his mind it was implied that members of committees, commissions and other bodies were expected to attend meetings in person.

Jaskiewicz said he believes Town Hall is not currently properly equipped technologically to accommodate members calling in. He foresaw problems making telecommuting members heard, and wondered whether there could be issues verifying the identities of those calling in.

Public Safety Commission Chairman David Jetmore said he would be fine with the town having a policy to allow members to call in to meetings but that he did not think such a policy would actually help the commission to make a quorum.

"The people that can't make it to the meetings in most cases won't be able to make it to the phone," he said.

He said he plans to ask members who frequently miss the commission's meetings to resign. He said that he plans to ask Town Council to remove frequently absent commissioners who do not resign on their own.

t.townsend@theday.com

Twitter: @ConnecticuTess