When city council resumes its regular meetings on Nov. 23 there will be a new live venue.
Council has voted to authorize holding meetings at the Chapel Gallery beginning that date.
The reason is so the city can resume holding live meetings during the pandemic. For several months the city has been conducting meetings virtually by using the Zoom platform, instead of meeting in the council chambers at City Hall.
They have been looking at ways to resume live meetings but the stumbling block has been the size of the council chamber under current public health restrictions.
City Manager Randy Patrick explained at last week’s council meeting there isn’t enough room for council to meet in the chamber, with no way to accommodate staff and members of the public.
The suggestion is to use Chapel Gallery, which uses a stage which can accommodate council and has enough room to also accommodate administration members and any members of the public who attend.
The intention is to hold live meetings there but to also use the Zoom platform. That way it can accommodate all staff and public who wish to participate or view the meeting, but who cannot or will not attend in person. The whole setup was described as a “hybrid” model by Patrick.
The city will need to utilize approximately $35,000 to purchase the electronics required to hold the meetings by this method — this amount would come from the federal SafeStart funding provided to the city.
Patrick said they anticipate using this system for the next six months or perhaps longer as the pandemic lasts. But he stressed the importance of having the public be able to tune in the meetings.
“The value of it is democracy is seen,” said Patrick. “Seen and heard.”
The move was agreed to, but it was not unanimous. Councillor Kelli Hawtin expressed concern about hosting council meetings at Chapel Gallery if it were opened again to host art exhibitions in the future.
Hawtin particularly wanted a discussion about moving live meetings permanently to a new location so that it could be accessible to the public. Accessibility issues have long been a concern about meetings at City Hall. Council chambers can only be accessed by a flight of stairs to the second floor, making it almost impossible for those in wheelchairs to attend.
In the end, council went ahead with approving the Chapel Gallery as the council venue starting on Nov. 23.
On a related note, there is also a change coming to starting times. Council plans to move the public portion of their regular council meetings from 6:15 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays, to allow more time to finish the executive committee in-camera meetings that usually begin around 5:15 p.m. on Mondays.
The recommendation will need to be approved through a bylaw change at the Oct. 13 meeting. The intention is for the new meeting times to take effect after Nov. 1.
