Port Hawkesbury town council/ CIGO file photo
Officials in a local town have moved from fully virtual to hybrid council meetings.
Port Hawkesbury town councillors voted to change to meeting in-person- with no public gallery- during April’s regular meeting Tuesday night.
Members of the public can only watch online; a provision allows councillors to continue attending virtually if they choose.
The town was the only municipality in the Quad Counties not holding council meetings in-person; it remains the only local municipality that doesn’t have a limited in-person gallery.
After the meeting, Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, the mayor of Port Hawkesbury, said they’re responsible to make sure councillors are comfortable attending meetings.
“We have to make sure that we create an enabling environment for participation, whether that is in person or virtual.”
Public Health officials increased gathering limits for municipal council meetings to a maximum of 100 people- or 50 per cent of a venue’s capacity- so long as other COVID-19 protocols can be maintained in February.
Chisholm-Beaton said most of their councillors supports that.
“We also want to respect that there may be some elected officials that may not support that, or may not feel comfortable meeting in-person,” she said. “Those are certainly maximums that are set, but, at the end of the day, I think we do have to respect people’s comfort levels.”
Chisholm-Beaton said they’ll continue to assess as the pandemic evolves.
She said they hope to re-open meetings when vaccine rollout is further along.
