I posted the same question a few weeks ago. I received some great info from Alexandra Iannolo:
Hello, The Attorney General for the State of Massachusetts recently approved new regulations that will allow board members to remotely participate in meetings, pending local approval. This is an article from Coakley, MA about the new regulations. http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x45850788/Coakley-Town-board-members-can-participate-in-meetings-remotely And here is Weston, MA’s approval of the bill. http://weston.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BF689D95C-36E9-4ADA-9616-E34BF56AA775%7D&DE=%7BB63181ED-105C-4ABB-A3B0-66E5EDD91871%7D You can view additional council guidelines for remote participation in meetings on the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington website. They are listed under question one of, “Featured Inquiries.” http://www.mrsc.org/research/libraryresults.aspx?cat=774 I also found general telecommuting guidelines. They all make small references to general meeting procedures. City of Mercer Island, WA- They suggest a system of planning ahead of time if calling into a meeting. http://icma.org/en/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/14663/The_Telecommuters_Guide City of Las Vegas, NV- They prefer people come in for meetings. http://icma.org/en/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/14664/Telecommuting_Policy Austin, TX- They say calling in is an option. http://icma.org/en/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/2964/Telework_Program_Overview Ali Iannolo Knowledge Network Intern aiannolo@ICMA.org

Based on this, we revised our policy for my board as follows:

a. Remote attendance at meetings – At times it may be impossible or impractical for a board member to be in physical attendance at a regularly scheduled meeting. A member of the Board may attend a meeting via an acceptable medium including interactive telephone, Internet, satellite audio or video conferencing or any other technology that enables the remote participant and all present at the meeting location to be clearly audible to one another, provided:
i. Remote attendance is acceptable to the majority of the Board of County Commissioners.
ii. Remote participation in public meetings is allowable for the following reasons:
1. personal illness
2. personal disability
3. Emergency
4. military service
5. geographic distance.
iii. The Board member attending remotely attends and participates in the entire agenda item prior to voting on an issue.
iv. Executive Session - A member participating remotely may participate in an executive session, but must state for the record that he or she is alone and cannot be overheard. Alternatively, another person may be present with the member participating remotely if the Board votes to authorize it.

Eugene,

Salt Lake City's gov staff is at the forefront of policies and practices for using online public comment forums -- including online forums that are integrated with public meetings. You could start by following-up with a Gov 2.0 industry expert -- Nole Walkingshaw: http://transformgov.org/en/knowledge_network/people/contact/605160

Regard,

Mike@PeakDemocracy.com