Hartford — As town and school officials consider sweeping recommendations meant to address racial inequality in the community, much of the early discussion has centered around a policy change that would require members to publicly report any racist remarks made by their colleagues.

“It almost sounds to me like I’m spying on the rest of the board members. And if I see them doing something wrong, I have to run back and tattle on them,” Selectman Dick Grassi said during a discussion with the board on Tuesday night, according to CATV video of the meeting.

Grassi made the comment as John Hall, chairman of the ad hoc Hartford Committee on Racial Inequality, fielded questions about a five-page set of recommendations that the committee developed over the past 10 months.

If the Selectboard accepts the recommendations as written, as at least one member has suggested, it would trigger cultural competency training for town officials and staff, create a permanent and standing Hartford Committee on Racial Equity and Inclusion, and pave the way for the development of a multiyear strategic plan for how to make Hartford a more inclusive community for people of color.

A couple of board members questioned some of the language in a proposed Selectboard policy that says “verbal or written expressions, actions or transactions by elected officials shall not reflect a prejudicial orientation. … Elected officials that observe that a violation of this policy has taken place shall bring this matter to the attention of the board at the next scheduled meeting.”

Selectman Dennis Brown and Grassi said they supported the committee’s work, but had reservations about what they both called “tattling.”

“There’s been talk on the board about having dinner together. Or playing games together,” Brown said during the meeting. “Now those things almost frighten me because if I’m at dinner and I say something dumb, this could happen. I’m terribly uncomfortable with this. I know the intent is good, but I just think it’s something that could cause division.”

Allene Swienckowski, a member of the committee, spoke in favor of the reporting requirement.

“We are so steeped in not hearing people making subtle or not-so-subtle insults. And we kind of like just throw it off and say, ‘Well they didn’t really mean that,’ ” Swienckowski said. “It’s not that someone is monitoring. That’s not the point. The point is to make it known that these kinds of behaviors are not acceptable and because these behaviors are not acceptable. You being in a position of power, you should have the ability to say, ‘This is not acceptable,’ whether the person meant to be racist or not.”

The idea of addressing offensive comments by confronting them publicly reflects the committee’s recognition that there are few substantive remedies to take against elected officials who choose to violate a policy, be it against prejudice or some other principle.

“Policy is essentially a statement of intent,” Town Manager Leo Pullar told the board during the discussion. “The ramifications of violating a policy are, really, political and reputation. They’re not legally enforceable in any way. If you violated a policy, it could (result in) a talking-to by the chair, or a statement by the board, but that would be the extent of that.”

The Selectboard’s interest in addressing racial inequality began last year, when the Valley News reported that then-Selectman Mike Morris had forwarded an email containing a political cartoon with a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama, members of his family, and one of his African-American political appointees.

At the time, people of color — including Hall, the committee chairman — and social justice activists who expressed their disapproval learned there was no short-term mechanism to force Morris to step down.

The ad hoc committee was formed jointly by the Selectboard and School Board to develop formal recommendations to help both bodies address issues of racial inequality in the town.

Morris offered multiple apologies to the public over the incident, and earlier this month lost a re-election bid to Jameson Davis, who is African-American.

During the meeting, Davis said he supported the reporting requirement as a means of confronting the “Donald Sterlings of the world.” Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Sterling was banned for life from the league in 2014 after a recording surfaced in which he asked his mistress not to bring black people to basketball games.

“Behind closed doors they had no problem with saying ‘N-words,’ no problem with microaggressions, no problem with racial jokes,” Davis said. “And we overhear that stuff, absolutely we need to be strong about that. And absolutely we need to be bringing this up in the board meetings. And that’s not just for colored people. That’s for the LGBT community, as well.”

The Selectboard will revisit the topic during its next scheduled meeting on April 11.

When the Hartford School Board heard a similar list of recommendations from Hall on Wednesday night, members didn’t discuss the particular recommendations for that body, which included training and developing a more culturally inclusive curriculum.

Instead, the discussion focused on how to accomplish the committee’s goals without violating the myriad state education rules and regulations that govern Vermont’s schools.

School Board Policy Committee Chairman Peter Merrill said it would be easier to navigate the process if the Hartford Committee on Racial Inequality could develop fact-based findings that demonstrated the specific expressions of institutional racism that the recommendations are meant to address.

He said the school district could collaborate with the committee to compile the data and interviews to meet that need, and assured Hall that action — though potentially slow — would be taken.

“It can move forward and it absolutely will move forward,” Merrill said.

District Superintendent Tom DeBalsi said he also was reviewing the recommendations in search of changes that could be implemented without formal board action.

“I’m really interested in getting some of the (cultural inclusiveness) training pieces done,” he said. “That’s the doable part, and some of us have already had that training. That will have a huge impact.”

School Board Chairman Kevin Christie, who also represents Hartford in the Vermont Legislature, said the recommendations dovetail with H.794, an education bill that would instruct the state Agency of Education to adopt ethnic study standards.

“I’m really excited about what I see, the parallels. … This is going to have an effect on 1,500 kids. All 400 employees. This is important,” Christie said.

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.