City Council Passes Resolution Making Council Chambers a Site for Hybrid Meetings

The City Council adopted a resolution making Council chambers a ‘hybrid meeting’ site.

Under the resolution, all meetings of the City Council, its Subcommittees and the planning, design, community police oversight Commissions that take place in the City Council chambers will be hybrid meetings — meetings conducted both in-person and streamed live, with viewers able to comment remotely during agendized public comment items.

On occasion, other legislative bodies may be scheduled in the Council Chamber to allow for remote public comment when there is a high level of public interest anticipated and the action is approved by the City Manager or City Clerk.

The item came through a unanimous recommendation from the EDTECH committee chaired by Tyron Hampton. 

The City Council already has the technology to conduct hybrid meetings.  

It will cost about $300,000 per year to conduct the hybrid meetings at the site. 

District 4 Council Member Gene Masuda expressed concerns about virtual comments. 

“I am certainly for public comment, it’s just a matter of changing it that I have concerns with,” Masuda said. 

The City Council returned to in-person meetings this year after moving to virtual meetings for nearly three years during the pandemic.

Since returning public comment on matters not on the agenda has decreased.

“I’m concerned that it is just going to make people make comments at home and I would rather see them in front of us,” said Masuda.

Masuda voted in favor of the consent calendar with the rest of the council.  

When the City Council considered returning to in-person meetings late last year, several Councilmembers had expressed a desire to continue under a hybrid model that would allow people to continue to comment remotely. 

“There are a lot of families that can’t make it to City Council meetings and people that are bedridden. We still represent them. We have the capability of doing this. It keeps our residents engaged,” Hampton said. 

The item will come back in six months to see if other meetings can also move to a hybrid format. 

Mayor Victor Gordo said committees and commissions on public comment will have discretion on prioritizing in-person speakers before virtual comments.  

Hybrid meetings will begin no earlier than February 27.