Tonight’s Planning & Zoning Commission virtual meeting drew over 80 online viewers. Most logged on for the third agenda item: discussion of The Hamlet at Saugatuck project.
Some were for it. Some against it.
But all were aghast when — during an earlier agenda item — pornographic images, a swastika, and a video of an ISIS-style beheading popped up on the screen,
Commissioner Michael Cammeyer quickly began deleting people from the Zoom session. Town IT technician Mike Phillis cut the feed. The P&Z took an official break.
But the damage had been done. Viewers were shaken and upset. One man said, “I can’t describe how awful that was to experience. The P&Z was scrambling to try to take care of the situation, but I left the meeting because it was overwhelming.”
This was not the first hacking of a town meeting. The Zoning Board of Appeals experienced a similar incident recently.
Cammeyer and P&Z director Michelle Perillie slowly began letting people they knew were legitimate back in the Zoom meeting.
Cammeyer also called the police. Chief Foti Koskinas recommend canceling the meeting. Town attorney Ira Bloom — part of the Zoom call — concurred.
Koskinas headed to Town Hall. He promised a thorough investigation by Westport Police.
The schedule for the Hamlet application is now uncertain. After tonight, the P&Z had been scheduled to discuss the Saugatuck project on April 21, with public input set for April 28. Westport schools are on break next week.
Upcoming meetings will continue to be virtual. Town Hall facilities do not work for P&Z sessions, Cammeyer says, with inadequate technology and other issues.
In the meantime, town officials will have to figure out how to allow residents to access meetings from home — while keeping out hackers who disrupt and traumatize them.
