As demographics change town and statewide, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) is taking steps to establish a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee to address potential concerns that not all groups are considered in the government’s decision-making process.

According to the BOS, gender, ethnicity, age, physical capabilities, gender identity, spirituality, and political opinions are all examples of groups often left unconsidered by municipal entities.

First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said the board has been considering the formation of such a committee for more than a year.

“We’ve talked about it over the last year, during the pride flag-raising proclamation we had done last May. And there is an independent group in Madison called the Madison Diversity Equity and Inclusion group, which is a citizens group that is not a formal part of town government, and their request has been for us to consider putting one of these committees in place,” said Lyons. “We had had a presentation recently on accessibility in town and how there are some concerns about that, and how maybe the town could do better, and the community could do better to reach out to those groups and make improvements.”

Lyons said she has reached out to area towns to understand the process of forming such a committee and felt that committee formation is easier said than done.

“I did some research to see what other communities have done and it’s kind of all over the map,” Lyons said. “I talked to a lot of different people about this, and a lot of the feedback is, let’s make sure we all share the same vision of what it’s for, that we have actionable things that we want the committee to do so there’s some direction,” Lyons said.

Several board members suggested weaving the committee into the Town’s longer-range Strategic Planning Process. Though the item was tabled for later discussion, the BOS seemed to have a united consensus in that a committee is an important project to consider.

“I was thinking about the Strategic Plan and that maybe that is the best way to move this forward is to use the planning process to get feedback on what the town wants from this, and, rather than doing something now with a charge, let’s hear what the community wants, and then we can address this as part of the strategic planning process,” said Lyons.

Selectwoman Jennifer Gordon said including “accessibility” into any DEI entity is an important factor for the BOS to consider.

“One thing I noted…some towns named their committees; Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility, and I think that would definitely be an important thing for us to do,” Gordon said.

Selectman Al Goldberg said that any move to form such a committee would need careful and focused consideration.

“It seems to me the potential formation of this initiative does require a lot of research and definition of finding exactly what the words mean and what we are trying to accomplish. These are big words that mean different things to different people, so I think we need to proceed deliberately and prudently to make sure that we are building a consensus about the meaning of these words and the role of town government. So, I would like to make this part of a broader planning process,” Goldberg said. “I would definitely favor folding this into the strategic planning process.”

Selectman Bruce Wilson concurred with his colleagues that the sensitive nature of even discussion of these types of entities demands scrutiny to ensure that the goal of diversity and equity can actually be achieved. He asked the group to consider questions about the committee’s goals and why the town might need a DEI committee.

“Benchmarks are something that absolutely has to be there. One of the conversations that is important to me is that we have an understanding of exactly what we’re hoping to get as a result of this. Is this a regulatory body that other groups have to pass through to make sure that the appropriate initiatives are being met? Or is this a group that is more of a think tank and identifies…and publishes recommendations to other groups in town? For example, would we expect the school building committee and the academy building committee to pass through this committee, hypothetically, to get their approval that they have addressed everything? Or are they publishing guidelines that those two committees would consider to make sure they’ve included in their process?” Wilson said. “I think also, as part of the discussion, we need to question the why. What are not doing today that causes us to need this type of group? What are we missing?”

The board did not take any specific action on the creation of a DEI committee, but will place the topic on a future meeting agenda.