Monday’s City Council meeting canceled; city looking at remote meeting options

LACONIA — The City Council has canceled its meeting scheduled for this coming Monday, another indication that the spread of COVID-19 disease is altering every facet of the city’s life.

The council is not scheduled to meet again until April 13.

“There was nothing urgent that needed action on Monday night,” City Manager Scott Myers said, explaining the decision to cancel the meeting.

The council normally meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. The last time it met was on Sunday, when it held an emergency meeting to deal with the impact of the governor's decision closing the state’s public schools.

Myers said the governor’s office and the attorney general have given governmental bodies guidance on public officials participating in meetings from a remote location. Bodies like a city council can now meet even if a majority of its members are attending by a remote audio or audio-visual hookup.

Myers said the city is looking to see what technology it already has and what more it would need in order to have meetings with all-remote participation, both by officials and the public. Among the possibilities being considered are video conferencing platforms such as GoToMeeting, and live-streaming the council meetings, in addition to having them carried on the public access channel on cable TV.

“The city needs to function,” Myers said, adding it would not be good for there to be a backlog of business that the council needs to consider. “I don’t want to stockpile agenda items.”

Myers said he has instructed city departments and other boards and commissions which meet regularly to consider adapting operations so they continue their regular business while at the same time taking all necessary precautions to safeguard the health of staff, public officials, and members of the public.

“We need to take that seriously,” Myers said. “Our boards occupy very important roles in people’s financial and business lives.”

“We’ll assess where we are in early April,” Myers said, referring to whether any special arrangements will need to be made for the April 13 council meeting.