North Bay City Council will vote Tuesday on a resolution, if approved, could extend the holding of official meetings virtually through July 31, 2021.
The move would authorize the City Clerk to amend the City of North Bay’s procedural by-law to allow members of council and local boards or committees to participate electronically in meetings until that date or until "it is determined that Council can safely participate in in-person meetings in the Council Chambers," according to the report from Karen McIsaac, and "the amendment can be rescinded and in-person Council Meetings may be resumed."
The report states "due to the uncertainty of the current pandemic," this measure and similar ones have been taken previously this year — at the onset of the pandemic in the spring and to extend the provision July 21 for the remainder of this calendar year.
The lifting of the provincial state of emergency made the July amendment a requirement to allow Council to continue meeting electronically in the interim.
Some area councils with fewer members and staff involved in meetings — including those in East Ferris and Mattawa — resumed meeting in person months ago. Mattawa facilitated physical distancing measures by meeting at the local arena.
In North Bay, when asked this summer about a similar move to a larger venue, the Clerk's office indicated using an alternate venue was not considered a practical short-term solution, due to the uncertainty of the availability of arenas — likely be the only suitable locations when it came to required space.
This ruled out moving the meetings to Memorial Gardens because it had already resumed on-ice operations and Communications Officer Gord Young added, "There would be some technological challenges (WiFi, microphones, etc.) at both West Ferris and Pete Palangio in terms of infrastructure needed to conduct, stream and televise meetings."
