County of Barrhead council to resume in-person meetings

BARRHEAD-County of Barrhead councillors will have to be wearing proper attire, including pants for their future council and official municipally sanctioned committee meetings.

That was the joke, councillors said in jest during a discussion on whether or not they should once again hold council meetings in-person during their July 8 meeting.

And the overwhelming consensus was yes as councillors voted unanimously to resume in-person council and sanctioned committee meetings starting on July 8.

Councillors also debated whether or not to continue to allow the public to watch council meetings remotely. They voted against this stating if the public wanted to watch the proceedings they would have to do so live.

Since March 18, when the municipal and public works offices closed their doors to the public, all council and committee meeting have been via videoconferencing. It should be noted that the municipal and public works offices, with restrictions, has been open to the public since mid-June.

County manager Debbie Oyarzun said in addition to any Alberta Health Services (AHS) and other public health guidelines the municipality must always keep in mind that they do their utmost to protect staff and the public that are particularly susceptible to the coronavirus.

The most challenging aspect of returning to in-person council meetings is the ability to maintain physical distancing of two metres in a relatively confined space.

"It is tight, but when seated we can get 12 people in chambers," she said.

At a normal council meeting, the majority of the time there are 10 people in chambers, seven councillors, the county manager and an administrative assistant and a member of the media. 

"That leaves two seats for department heads to come in to give presentations and answer questions," Oyarzun said. 

For the most part, she said, that is manageable as there is usually no one in the gallery and any department managers are only in the chamber long enough to give their report.

Oyarzun said that would not give them a lot of wiggle room. 

"If there is someone in the gallery or if there is a delegation with more than one person we would have to change our protocol," she said.

If there are 13 people in the chambers, Oyarzun noted they can still hold the meeting, but because they are no longer able to maintain the two-metre all participants would be required to wear masks.

Regardless of the number of people, the county must enact rigorous cleaning protocols and track all attendees. Of course, this is also on top of the requirement that everyone self-assess, staying home if feeling ill and self-isolating if they do as well as practice meticulous hand hygiene.

The county can also augment the in-person meeting with a combination of teleconferencing and streaming video for councillors or the public who don't want to attend live.

However, Oyarzun noted that under the Alberta Municipal Government Act (MGA) that does not negate their responsibility to make provisions for the public to attend the meetings in the chamber.

The only catch is if a council meeting is slated to be conducted in-person four councillors must attend in chambers to ensure a quorum, regardless of how many elected officials are participating in total.

She also noted before the July 21 council meeting there are several committee meetings and they could be used to finetune their procedures.

Coun. Lane noted that the Town of Barrhead council has continued to meet in-person throughout the pandemic and asked Oyarzun if she had consulted with their administration.

Oyarzun had but noted the circumstances were different, most notably that their council chambers are larger, allowing for 15 people with appropriate physical distancing. She said she would rather not discuss what the town is doing, as that is their prerogative, noting they needed to focus on their own procedures, but added the town is not opening their meetings to the public.

"It baffles me what is happening with only two reported known cases in Barrhead," Lane interjected.

He added that although he chooses to wear a mask while out in public, he rarely sees anyone else, including his fellow councillors taking the same precaution.

"I know it is good to be cautious, but I think it is overblown right now," Lane said.

Oyarzun responded by saying one did not have to travel very far to see more people wearing masks, saying in places like St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Edmonton the majority of people are wearing masks. She also noted as the restrictions have been relaxed more people are travelling between communities increasing the risk.

Earlier in the meeting, Oyarzun noted that while the death rate for COVID-19 is relatively low, it is much higher than influenza.

"When this started, people were comparing COVID with the flu which isn't a good comparison," she said. "In Canada, every year between 500 and 1,500 people die from the flu and in less than a year more than 8,700 people have died from the coronavirus."

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com

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