Government

DEI Committee starts review of town policies

|Mary Beth Johnson|

The Ad Hoc DEI Committee met on May 24 to review the
town’s EMS (Emergency Medical Services) and Covid policies
to see if they were in line with diversity, equity, and inclusion
as defined by the committee in its May 5 meeting.  In that meeting, Vice Chair Adam Lee had suggested a list of questions, such as  “Does this policy prevent diversity from happening?” Member Cameron Dufty offered a rubric with three considerations: intended audience, context and purpose, and four “pillars” specific to policy content: language, qualifications, interpretations, and impact.

Before the committee began looking at these two policies, they heard public comment from resident Peggy Becksvoort. She stated how pleased she is that New Gloucester has established a DEI committee, but that she was surprised and confused by comments of three DEI committee members at the recent Charter Commission hearing that favored limiting committee membership to registered voters. “Of all places, ”stated Becksvoort, “ the DEI Committee has got to be the one to champion inclusion.”

[NOTE: Current policy requires applicants for volunteer committees to be residents, and allows youth to apply with parental/ guardian permission. DEI Committee member Joanna Cauoette is a permanent resident.]

The committee then spent about two hours looking at the EMS policy through the lenses noted above. Many concerns emerged, including the need to:
• use gender-neutral terms, i.e., Select Board member vs selectman
• spell what the initials of policies, agencies, and programs stand for, i.e., Emergency Medical Services for EMS
• make the billing a patient receives is clear, precise, and more patient-friendly, i.e., From the first billing, the patient will know what the cost will be to the patient.
• When the word “patient” is used, it needs to include the patient’s legal representative(s) and/or family member(s).  Often a patient may need help in understanding what is happening in the application and billing processes.

Attorney Greta Atchinson’s expertise was helpful and clarifying for the committee.  She stated that trying to understand this EMS policy was overwhelming for the committee. It needs to be simplified, and opportunities need to exist for patients to receive help in filling out applications for assistance.

By this time, the members had spent more than two hours on the EMS policy and still needed to review the Covid policy. They decided to look broadly at the Covid policy. Several members expressed general concerns about the policy, and will be ready for an in-depth review at their next meeting.  

The next committee meeting date is June 9 at 7 PM in the Meetinghouse.

Please see the recording of this meeting on the town website for more details.