CHILLICOTHE — In an unprecedented meeting, members of the Chillicothe City Council and city administration met via online conference call Monday night to conduct city business.
Late last week, Chillicothe City Council President Bruce Arnold announced that all meetings will be taking place electronically per guidelines established by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. By meeting online rather than in person, city council is able to practice social distancing during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. And despite a few hiccups and technical difficulties, the meeting generally went according to plan.
"These are pretty crazy and unusual times," Arnold said. "But council maintains our duty to serve."
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The meeting was orchestrated by Arnold, who sat in council chambers and operated the camera system as it was broadcast on Horizon channel 2 and Spectrum channel 1021. Council members, Mayor Luke Feeney and City Auditor Kristal Spetnagel video-conferenced in.
Although the video quality was poor, home audiences were able to see the computer screen as if they were also included in the call.
Arnold started the meeting by providing a telephone number that members of the public could call if they wished to speak to act as a replacement to the normal public participation portion of the meeting. The council president then took roll call of members, all of whom were present.
Towards the beginning of the session, it appeared that some council members did not seem eager to respond or make motions on issues like voting to go ahead with the meeting although the previous meeting minutes were not received within the required time frame.
At the start, when some members did speak, there were issues with not being able to hear due to volume and some delay in the video from poor connection — at least from the home audience perspective.
Further into the meeting, as someone was speaking, their face was forefront on the screen while others could be seen from smaller boxes on the side. At times, due to the poor quality and volume, it was unclear who was speaking or hard to see what officials were doing.
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Amid discussions, a few council members even made phone calls that could be heard as they didn't mute themselves and others were seen using their cell phones throughout the meeting.
Because most officials were meeting from their homes, background noises were also evident, and at times, distracting. At one point, Arnold asked members who are not speaking to mute themselves so that other council members could clearly be heard.
However, this posed a problem later in the meeting when council members were asked direct questions or voting and they would forget to unmute themselves.
At one point, Ward 3 Councilwoman Deidra Nickerson was disconnected from the conference. Feeney said that per guidelines from the attorney general, the meeting must be paused until she was able to be reconnected. Arnold was able to reach Nickerson via telephone before patching her back into the video conference call.
Arnold admitted he was nervous about how the meeting would work, but says it went smoothly for the first try. In the future, as council members grow accustomed to the technology and new process it's likely the quality of the meetings will improve.
Prior to voting on legislation, Feeney and Spetnagel provided reports from the city as they normally do.
The mayor gave an update on the status of several city departments including city services, utilities, police and fire amid the COVID-19 outbreak. As the city administration building is closed to the public, the staff is mostly a "skeleton crew" of people as many employees are working from home.
The Chillicothe Police Department and fire department remain fully staffed and operational at this time. Employees working for water and sewer have been divided into teams and work alternate days to avoid cross-contamination should one worker contract the virus.
This ensures that if one team becomes quarantined, there is still another to keep services throughout the city operational.
There have also been modifications to transit services, according to Feeney. Now, buses will no longer travel the fixed route and are discontinued except to provide essential services.
Instead, transit will operate on-demand, like a taxi service, to community members in need. To schedule a bus, residents are asked to call 740-773-1564.
Feeney also highlighted the importance of community members utilizing the new 2-1-1 resource hotline with any questions they have or if they are in need. Community members are also encouraged to volunteer if they are able and can find organizations in need at https://ift.tt/33GtDgn.
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Spetnagel announced the deadline extension of income tax filings for the city to July 15, too. Although the office is closed, fillings can be turned in by mail or at drop off boxes for water and sewer payments although they should be clearly labeled for the auditor's office.
The auditor said that while the city's finances are currently fine, they have not yet seen the effects that the coronavirus has had fiscally. Spetnagel suspects that these consequences will be evident next year.
The mayor also stated that the star on Carlisle Hill has been lit to provide inspiration to the community amid the pandemic.
"We decided to light the star," Feeney said. "It will remain lit over the city as a beacon of hope until this is over."
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Chillicothe City Council holds first electronic meeting to comply with social distancing - Chillicothe Gazette
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