On the night of Monday, October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy hit Wareham, but Town Moderator Claire Smith and Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva had to get to Wareham High School.

The week before, Wareham’s Fall Town Meeting had stretched through Monday and Tuesday nights and needed a third night, which was set to take place on the 29th, but Sandy stood in the way. Although conditions made it unsafe to be on the roads, the law said that Wareham’s officials had formally "recess and continue" a meeting at the initial "place of town meeting."

“In order to open town meeting, the clerk and I were required to be there,” said Smith, who along with Silva was also joined by WCTV’s Steve Ruiz, who was needed to document the meeting. “We had to continue the meeting or it dissolves itself and we have to start all over.”

That didn’t sit well with Smith, and after reaching out to moderators across the state, she found that others were faced with a similar problem. Governor Patrick had issued a State of Emergency, but because of a formality, people’s lives were put at risk.

“We talked with other moderators, and we decided that we needed to come up with some way to fix this,” said Smith.

After some discussion, she sought the help of Town Counsel Richard Bowen, who along with Pembroke Town Moderator Steve Dodge put together the language for the legislation. The changes would allow moderators in Massachusetts to postpone and reschedule town meetings in the case of an emergency "upon his or her own declaration." In other words, they could do it from home.

“It was just a bad situation,” said Bowen, who has served as Wareham’s Town Counsel since 2007. “I thought about it (and concluded that) there has to be a better way.”

But once he wrote up the legislation, which was filed by Senator Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport), it sat for two years. With limited time remaining, Smith, some moderators, and others made a push this past September to try to get the bill approved.

“If we didn’t get it passed, then (the bill) would die,” said Smith. “All the moderators reached out. There was a lot of work to make it happen."

Finally, Governor Deval Patrick signed the bill on January 7.

“It ended up getting signed the day the governor left,” said Smith.

Now, in order to change a meeting in the case of a weather emergency, a moderator can consult with town officials and reschedule a meeting on their own accord without having to actually convene.

“It was great,” said Bowen. “It meant the public and the moderators and the town clerk weren’t out there risking their lives. It just makes sense.”

Bowen said that just last week, three towns — Bourne, Southbridge, and Plainville — used the new legislation to safely delay special town meetings as a result of the blizzard and subsequent State of Emergency.

“It took a couple years, but it got passed," he said.

Smith said that along with the other moderators, Bowen, and Rodrigues, State Representative Susan Williams Gifford (R-Wareham) and David Vieira (R-East Falmouth) were instrumental in moving the bill along.

“(Vieira) worked very hard on it — as did Susan Gifford — to get it out of committee,” she said.

In an email to Smith, Vieira thanked her for her call for action.

“Your experience showed we had a problem and leadership was willing to provide a solution,” he said. “Your personal experience contributed to our being able to get this bill passed.”