OLDS — Council has voted to continue holding their meetings virtually rather than in-person until at least late October, due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
However, that could change and council could go back to meeting in person if conditions warrant, chief administrative officer Michael Merritt said.
Councillors approved the revised schedule during their Aug. 24 meeting.
They also voted to continue to make their meetings available to the public online and by phone.
The Sept. 8 and Oct. 5 policies and priorities meetings as well as council meetings on Sept. 14, 28 and Oct. 13 will all be held online, starting at 1 p.m.
Council will hold two meetings on Oct. 26. Its annual organizational meeting will start at 1 p.m. and its regular council meeting will start at 2 p.m. that day.
“We’re hoping to be able to move back to live meetings later this fall and we’re making some arrangements to see if we can do that,” Merritt told council.
He confirmed those arrangements include installing new microphones to accommodate more distanced councillors and staff, providing more monitors so there will be no sharing of that equipment, and installing plexi-glass between all councillors and administrative staff.
“I just wanted to be on the safe side. There’s no guarantees we’ll be able to move back (by) mid of October; that is hope,” Merritt said.
He added that if it’s decided that council meetings can be moved back to their old 6 p.m. time slot, “an adjustment” would be made and announced one meeting ahead of time.
“I think this is a prudent, wise move to do it this way, just so that we have time to see what happens with school openings and other things that are going to come in September and if anything spikes along the way, we can make decisions from there,” mayor Michael Muzychka said.
Coun. Mary Jane Harper pointed out councillors can only decide how they’ll handle their own council and committee meetings. Boards, commissions and other such entities make their own decisions.
