City council should consider continuing meetings virtually until the end of the year, city administrators suggest in a new report.
Since March, council, boards, and committees have been meeting over Zoom to deal with city business, which has been working well, a report to council said.
“Public Meetings and public engagement have transitioned seamlessly and our Closed Session meetings have also been successful. Our Youtube viewership has also increased seeing a range of 107-186 views of our meetings since we started with electronic meetings,” the report reads.
Since the current council chambers will not allow for proper physical distancing and following the ‘work from home as much as possible’-advice from Niagara Region, the council is suggested to keep conducting its meetings over video chat until at least the end of 2020.
Staff also suggests reviewing modifications to the council chambers for when in-person meetings can be resumed – however it won't be anytime soon, the report hints.
“As the pandemic seems to include a lengthy recovery right up until the time a vaccine is widely available the likelihood of returning to our past practices in the near future does not seem likely,” the report said, adding that an overwhelming majority of municipalities in the southern Ontario-area are doing the same.
Council will discuss the future of its meetings on Tuesday.
