- Coronavirus Virtual Conference
- Mar 27
- 2 mins read
Small town in Massachusetts holds its first-ever Zoom city council meeting
Northampton, Massachusetts held its first-ever Zoom city council meeting Thursday, March 19 after recent changes to a statewide Open Meeting Law allow public meetings to operate remotely as the state shelters at home to slow the spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19.
“While we’re all physically apart, I view this actually as very unifying,” said Northampton City Council President Gina-Louise Sciarra at the start of the meeting. “We’re sitting in the wards…that we represent and we’re with you, the people that we represent. We’re all doing this for the common good and for the safety of all in our community, and to me, that’s the very purpose of local government.”
Northampton, a town in Western Massachusetts with a population under 30k (also voted Best Small Town in Massachusetts last year by Thrillist), was among the first cities in America to hold their city council meeting virtually, via Zoom, a cloud-based video conferencing platform. “We’ve all had to bend and be flexible,” Sciarra said.
Governor Charlie Baker issued the emergency order on March 10, when the state had 92 confirmed cases of coronavirus, allowing legislative bodies to conduct meetings with all participants being remote. Thursday night’s meeting had a range of 20-30 participants, non-agendized public comment was taken at the start of the meeting, and the entire meeting lasted about 3.5 hours.
Using the screenshare function of Zoom, Sciarra showed the Agenda as they went through it, and presentations were able to be shown. The video was recorded by Northampton Open Media, the local cable access station. The meeting is now posted on YouTube, and you can watch here.
How did they get the word out?
Northampton put all of the information about how to access the online meeting on the agenda itself when it was published. They also posted a separate notice to the “Newsflash” feature of their city website. Northampton City Council Administrative Assistant Laura Kutzler also used Zoom’s invitation feature to email all known participants (city councilmembers, the Mayor city solicitor, and department heads scheduled to make presentations).
How did they handle Public Comment?
Northampton City Council President Gina-Louise Sciarra hosted Thursday’s Zoom meeting. For non-agendized public comment, she called out names of participants in the meeting, announced that she was unmuting them to ask if they wanted to give public comment, and allowed them to speak if they so wished. Zoom also has a “raise hand” function, which some participants utilized, but Sciarra checked in with every participant to make sure they were able to speak if they wanted to. In short, the city council was able to take and document public comment the same way they would during an in-person meeting. “I was impressed by the thoughtfulness and complexity of the [Zoom] discussion,” said Northampton City Council Administrative Assistant Laura Kutzler.
How did they take votes?
When asking if there are any discussion on readings of resolutions, Sciarra announced she was looking for councilmembers to use the “raise hand” function in Zoom for someone wishing to speak. After discussion, Kutzler called each councilmember’s name and they vocalized their vote. Sciarra then asked for any objections or those abstaining from voting before moving on.
Any Tips?
If you’re planning to do a Zoom meeting for city council, make sure you’re also livestreaming the video elsewhere for those to watch without participating. Council President Sciarra had to ask non-participants to mute their microphones in order to avoid microphone feedback, and she was able to direct them to watch elsewhere.
Related Posts
![Stockton tenants seek help from city, nonprofits to prevent illegal evictions](../../../../images/07/Monica-Sousa-directing-attorney-of-the-Stockton-office-of-California-Rural-Legal-Assistance-speaks-with-a-client-over-the-phone-during-the-COVID-19-pandemic.-Photo-credit_-CRLA.jpg)
Stockton tenants seek help from city, nonprofits to prevent illegal evictions
Monica Sousa, directing attorney of the Stockton office of California Rural Legal Assistance, speaks with a client over the phone during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo credit_ CRLA- Jul 06
- 6 mins read
![Notaries Go Virtual During Coronavirus Crisis](../../../../wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ING_33594_225969.jpg)
Notaries Go Virtual During Coronavirus Crisis
It’s a mundane but necessary part of modern life. Whether it’s signing a will or buying property, most legal transactions require a notary to witness a document being signed in person. But under pandemic social distancing guidelines getting together with a notary in person is impossible so many states are allowing notaries to work online.- Jun 09
- 3 mins read
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Delores on Stockton tenants seek help from city, nonprofits to prevent illegal evictions
- Jefferey Krolick on Stockton tenants seek help from city, nonprofits to prevent illegal evictions
- get free v bucks on Scavenger hunt company creates online game for families during quarantine
- Devin Macurdy on Scavenger hunt company creates online game for families during quarantine
- Marjory Castronovo on Notaries Go Virtual During Coronavirus Crisis
More Articles
COVID-19 Inflames California Wildfire Anxiety
- June 1, 2020
- 4 mins read
West Orange man creates talk show for neighbors on Facebook
- May 22, 2020
- 3 mins read
2020 census count faces uncertain delays
- April 29, 2020
- 3 mins read
Schools in the US plan for hybrid reopening
- June 17, 2020
- 3 mins read
Comments (2)
raj
Apr 02, 2020Great article!
Sarah Carpenter
Apr 03, 2020Thanks Raj!