Council Likely to Approve Resolution Authorizing City Public Meetings Will Continue Remotely by Video

Pasadena’s City Council is expected to vote Monday on a resolution to continue remote meetings by video in all of its public meetings as well as the meetings of its subordinate bodies (including commissions and committees) and the boards of the City’s non-profit corporations and their subordinate bodies. 

A draft of the resolution prepared by the City Attorney shows these “teleconference” meetings are to be extended up to Aug. 17 or such time as a subsequent resolution by City Council would require. 

Meetings by video conference started in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic started, in accordance with the Governor’s Executive Order N-29-20,  suspending certain teleconference requirements of the Brown Act. 

On Sept. 16, 2021, the Governor, recognizing the impact of COVID-19, signed AB 361, which amends the Brown Act and authorizes teleconferenced public meetings under certain circumstances where public participation is remote. AB 361 went into effect October 1, 2021 and expires on January 1,2024. 

Since October 2021, the City Council has been adopting resolution after resolution authorizing remote teleconference meetings for a 30-day period, pursuant to Government Code Section 54953. 

Section 54953 requires that if the legislative body, such as the Pasadena City Council, wishes to continue meeting remotely, it must confirm the circumstances of the state of emergency, make the required findings that it is unsafe for members of the body to meet in person safely, and adopt a resolution every 30 days.

The last adopted resolution expires on July 20. 

The draft resolution up for consideration on Monday said Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 case rate hit its highest point in nearly five months over the recent 4th of July weekend, with two Omicron sub-variants, BA.4 and BA.5, becoming dominant nationwide and appearing to be among the most contagious yet of this pandemic.

“Los Angeles County is hovering right below the COVID transmission level of ‘high’ (the worst on the CDC’s three-tier scale), which would indicate that a region is experiencing significant spread and that transmission is starting to exert stress on hospitals, and is close to reinstating a universal indoor mask mandate – which Pasadena would follow suit and mandate as well,” the draft reads. “One of the biggest concerns with regard to these sub-variants is their ability to reinfect people even after suffering from an earlier Omicron subvariant, creating the possibility for elevated infection levels through the summer and into the fall.

The draft also mentioned Pasadena Health Officer Dr. Ying Ying Goh’s recent statement that Pasadena is “in a significant surge – without coming down from the last surge – because of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants.” 

Earlier this week, Dr. Goh said if Los Angeles County re-enters the high community level, Pasadena “would consider requiring indoor masking.” 

Currently the County is in the moderate community level but moving toward the high level, Goh said. She added that Pasadena’s confirmed case rates are extremely high – well above the CDC high transmission level – and are underestimated because only a small proportion of people with COVID were taking PCR tests.