November 5, 2011
Massachusetts

If you go …

The Berkshire Eagle, www.berkshireeagle.com 5 November 2011

n What: Members of the Wind Energy Research Panel plan to tour the heavily wooded site recommended for turbines.

n When: Today at 1 p.m.

n Where: They will gather at the parking area at Reservoir and Dunbar roads and return to Town Hall for a discussion after the visit.

n Upcoming: Weekly meetings will be held Thursday evenings at 6, beginning Nov. 10.

All meetings and site tours are open to the public.

Lenox Wind Energy Research Panel rules

As an official town committee, the new, six-member Lenox Wind Energy Research Panel – the target of intense public interest surrounding the divisive wind-turbine issue – is subject to all provisions of the Open Meeting Law and other ground rules, as presented to panel members by Town Manager Gregory Federspiel and moderator Kenneth Fowler at Monday’s first meeting:

n Discussions and votes, if taken, are to accomplished in a public setting, “so there should not be a lot of communication via e-mail, and you shouldn’t be trying to assess each other’s opinions because that should be something expressed at a meeting,” Federspiel said.

n The law bars private discussions among a quorum of three or more members. “As a public board, your deliberations, your decision-making process is transparent and the public has a chance to witness that process, so the intent is to avoid strategizing or
coming up with opinions outside the public eye,” Federspiel explained.

n The panel’s mission requires a decision on “what material will be accepted or not accepted, what kind of information is backed up by fact and what kind is backed up, let’s just say, by less than fact,” said Fowler.

n The Weston Solutions study of wind-power potential on Lenox Mountain is available at www.townoflenox.com. Information emerging from the wind-panel meetings will be maintained at the Lenox Library.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/05/if-you-go/