PORT HAWKESBURY: For the first time in its history, the Town of Port Hawkesbury hosted its first ever virtual council meeting April 7 on the GoToMeetings application.
The regular monthly meeting featured a council chambera not at the regular site of Shannon Studio in the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre – due to social distancing protocols – but rather in the living rooms and home offices of local elected officials.
The town cancelled all of its in-person meetings when they tabled their pandemic preparedness plan on March 16 but it was still business as usual with a schedule that included the declaration of a vacant council seat, a two-month deferral on rate payments, the projected $300,000 shortfall over the next six-months, and updating numerous aspects of the town’s pandemic preparedness plan.
Following the meeting, Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, the town’s mayor, said transitioning to a virtual space takes a little bit of getting used to and apologized for the initial awkwardness.
“Sorry we had some technological glitches, but I’m sure we’ll be pro’s at it in no time,” she said. “The intention is eventually to figure out how to do this livestream.”
Other than a staff member occasionally forgetting their mic had been muted, which happens routinely during in-person meetings, everything ran smoothly.
“Town council is very much entrenched in emergency management surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic,” Chisholm-Beaton said. “And now that we can no longer meet as we traditionally do, it’s imperative that citizens are able to still observe council business and decision making.”
Councillors and administrators have been doing a number of virtual video meetings since March 20, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, according to the mayor.
She said it’s important to ensure the town remains as transparent as possible under the circumstances.
It is the intention of council moving forward to invite any member of the public. Residents that are interested in participating in future meeting can do so by requesting a meeting invitation five days prior to the meeting.
After its adjournment, the recorded virtual meeting is posted on the town’s Web site.
“We can do our best to embrace technology that will allow us to keep some aspect of normalcy during a time when we are living with the uncertainty of COVID-19, while we are continuing to maintain physical distancing,” she said. “And at the same tim,e ensuring that we are still open, approachable, and accessible to our citizens.”