Wayland HRDEI committee sets Dec. 1 soft launch for community reporting line

WAYLAND — November 1, 2022 — Wayland's HRDEI Committee unanimously approved a Dec. 1 soft launch of its community reporting line. The vote, taken at a Nov. 1 special meeting, gives staff member Mei Ling and Assistant Town Manager John Senchyshyn three weeks to activate a dedicated phone line, record a voicemail greeting, build a webpage and resolve outstanding language on mandated reporting. Members agreed callers will be promised a response "within 48 hours," that anonymous callers may still request callbacks, and that voicemails will be deleted 24 hours after initial contact to limit the public-records trail. Member Jessica Cooper pushed back on Town Manager Stephen Crane's position that all committee members are mandated reporters, saying "nobody's mandated us just by being on a town committee." Member Yahui won agreement to assign sequential case numbers tracking each report through resolution. The committee did not vote on the intake forms themselves, deferring that to Nov. 15.