- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Supervisors to begin hybrid in-person meetings June 30
The board last met in person in the board chambers, with social distancing, on March 17, two days before the countywide shelter in place order went into effect.
Since then, board meetings have been held virtually and live-streamed through Granicus on the county’s website and Facebook page, and through the Zoom platform.
At Tuesday’s meeting, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson told the board, “Staff has been working hard to develop a solution for you which will bring together the Zoom technology and also allow for people to be back in the boardroom.”
She said the board will return to a renovated boardroom at its special meeting beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 30.
Huchingson said that in addition to continued use of Zoom, the county also will maintain its Granicus and Facebook livestreams.
Referring to a comment made during a previous meeting that “it’s what people feel comfortable with” in terms of managing their needs through the COVID-19 pandemic, “This option that staff’s going to present to you does just that,” said Huchingson.
She said the boardroom has been remodeled. Plexiglass has been placed around the seats of board members, staffers and the public comment microphone. The public seating has been removed and now only about 25 people can be seated in the chambers.
All of the changes are meant to create a “hybrid Zoom environment,” Huchingson said,
She said the new setup will allow seamless communication between the board and the public, with a Zoom projection screen to allow two-way communication.
“It’s a little awkward but at the same time it’s definitely the hybrid style that we asked,” said Supervisor Bruno Sabatier.
He said he’s glad the meetings are more accessible to people who can’t always come to the meetings in person. However, he said he’s concerned about the future, and while he wants to make sure to continue to provide interaction through Facebook and Zoom, he raised the issue of costs, primarily related to staffing, as an IT Department staffer is now assigned to work every meeting. Sabatier said the meeting format needs to be sustainable for the future.
Huchingson suggested that the board should have a discussion with Shane French, the county’s IT director, to get his perspective on the impacts on his department.
IT staffer Jake Reinke, who manages the board meetings on Zoom, noted, “We’re working here, we’re getting better” at handling the virtual meetings.
Supervisor Tina Scott asked about Zoom capacity. Reinke said the county’s Zoom setup can facilitate up to 300 participants, although there has been some suggestion it could be much lower, at around 60. As the Zoom host, he said he hasn’t noticed bandwidth issues.
Supervisor EJ Crandell said he’s glad the county is continuing to run the meetings with the virtual access. “I think it’s just good for the constituency.”
Board Chair Moke Simon said he appreciated staff’s hard work to put the new format together.
“Next time we will kind of roll this thing out to the public and work through any issues that come up. And we do know there will be issues, but we’ll work them out as we go,” Simon said, adding it’s good to have the meetings available to more people, which adds to transparency.
No public comment was offered during the discussion.
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