Staff Writer 

 Cape Elizabeth residents may want to update their electronic junk mail filters before clicking on a new link Town Councilor David Sherman is proposing to put on the town Web site. At the first meeting of the town’s Communication Policies Review Committee meeting on Monday, he said adding a “subscription” button to the site that would collect resident contact information could help keep town officials better attuned to the will of the people. 

“We get so many emails from the same individuals, especially about issues they feel really passionate about,” Sherman said. “Is there a way to get a broader cross-section of resident input?”

Council Chairman Jim Rowe said introducing a voluntary subscription method to news articles posted on the town Web site could help town officials get a better sense of how to represent the desires of residents.

“Look at Fort Williams,” he said. “We voted on charging admission two years ago and it was defeated three to one, but what does the community feel now?”

Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta said the town council had formerly used community newspapers to distribute surveys throughout the community to guide their actions and Town Manager Michael McGovern said they had also included informational articles in tax documents mailed to residents each year.

“We’ve sent out surveys on recycling and the library, but the ultimate [feedback] is the vote,” Swift-Kayatta said.

Sherman said communicating with residents via “snail mail” was more cumbersome and possibly misleading when compared to results councilors could receive by communicating with residents electronically.

“What if [residents] fill out two forms and mail them both in?” he asked. “For people my age and younger, doing this electronically is the only way we’re going to respond.”

However, building a subscription list could have legal implications for the town, Swift-Kayatta said.

“That list would be considered a public document,” she said. “What if you get a vendor at Fort Williams who says ‘Hand it over?’”

McGovern said anyone can currently request any email address or message used by town officials or employees with a Freedom of Information Act request. Requests for physical addresses are more common, however; he said the town has previously supplied real estate agents with street address lists. 

“I don’t think anyone has ever made a request [for email addresses or messages] for marketing purposes,” McGovern said. 

The group also discussed updating Cape Elizabeth Television Channel 3 operating guidelines and the possibility of broadcasting budget workshops on the channel, as was requested by a resident. Ultimately, the group agreed airing budget workshops was not a good idea “for cost and logistical reasons,” Swift-Kayatta said.

“We had broadcasted some town council workshops and it didn’t seem like anybody was more or less interested in the process,” she said. “It was longer, it was much more formal and there was more [speech making].”

Broadcasting working meetings may not be happening in Cape Elizabeth, but South Portland Mayor Tom Blake said residents may be able to watch council workshops from home in the near future. Since December, the council has also allowed public comment at their workshops – limited to two minutes per resident – something Blake said “has been great.”

“Municipalities quite generally get accused of being non-transparent,” he said. “This way we involve [residents] at the beginning of the process and get their feedback right up front. I kind of went out on a limb proposing it. Other councilors said to me ‘Tom, these are working sessions, we can’t take comments from the public,’ but my answer to that was ‘We can still [work]. Put the item on the table, then open it up.’ [Public comment] lets us work more educated and more informed.”

As was approved by the council, public comment will be allowed at workshops during an eight-month trial period, reviewed by the council in April and up for final approval in August, Blake said. 

The next meeting of the Cape Elizabeth Communication Policies Review Committee is scheduled for Feb. 23.