Finance Committee recommends six-month extension for Hybrid Town Meeting study

NATICK -- March 19, 2026, Natick Finance Committee backs six-month extension for Hybrid Town Meeting study panel. The committee voted 9-0-2 on Thursday to recommend positive action on Article 16, both to have spring Town Meeting hear the Hybrid Town Meeting Committee's progress report and to extend the panel's term through the dissolution of the fall 2026 annual Town Meeting. Vice Chair Grace Keeney told Finance Committee members the nine-member panel has held 15 meetings since December, interviewed Brookline, Plymouth, Arlington and Belmont, met with vendors Option Technology and Echo360, and drawn more than 350 responses to a now-closed public survey, while spending none of its $10,000 appropriation. Chair Frank Foss cautioned that state authorization for hybrid meetings carries a legislative sunset. "This is not an easy, here's how you do it and go do it," Keeney said. Members Patricia and Grace abstained on both votes.