Social distancing Civics lessons

Published 12:55 pm Saturday, April 25, 2020

With social distancing and stay-at-home orders in place from the governor’s office, Cullman County local governments are taking varied approaches to holding open meetings.

This month, Fairview, Baileyton, Garden City and Dodge City all canceled their regular monthly meetings because of the stay-at-home order. The Holly Pond town council did meet, but wore masks and ensured they kept plenty of distance from each other.

The Cullman City Council, on the other hand, has had frequent meetings. In addition to its regular meetings, the council has had several special called meetings to address issues related to the on-going health crisis. The council has limited the number of people in the meeting chamber and also streamed it online for public viewing.

The Cullman County Commission originally planned to skip its April meeting, but then had to call an emergency meeting earlier this month to pass COVID-19 related legislation. Like the Cullman City Council, the board asked people to stay away and used FaceBook Live to stream meetings since then.

Hanceville originally moved its meetings outside, where they could spread out more. They are now live streaming their meetings. Good Hope, too, took their meeting outside to the pavilion in the city park.

On Monday, the Cullman City School Board will meet, but is asking the public to not attend. Instead, they will post a synopsis of the meeting afterwards. “We choose this option due to the limited amount of space in our board room,” said Superintendent Susan Patterson.  

All of these are acceptable ways of conducting the people’s business, according to the Alabama League of Municipalities (ALALM). The organization posted a memo telling cities and towns that under Gov. Kay Ivey’s emergency order, councils can postpone or cancel meetings as long as they provide public notice.

They are also able to meet via telephone or video conference as long as the agenda items relate to COVID-19 or are “essential minimum functions” of the boards. An example of an “essential” function, the association said, is a zoning board meeting to decide zoning applications or appeals. Overall, though, the state order does not define what is or is not essential.

Statewide, governments have been trying continue doing business in the open, said Lori Lein, general counsel for ALALM. “They really are genuinely interested in transparency,” she said.“The vast majority are doing their best to be as transparent as possible.”

She said the response across the state has varied, from the more technologically advanced who are using online platforms like Zoom and FaceBook Live to meet and hear public comments to those who are meeting in person, but doing so outdoors to spread out more.

“They’re being creative,” said Lein.

If local governments hold telephone conference meetings, as they’re allowed to under the order, they have to provide much more detailed minutes from from the meeting, said Lein.

The Alabama Press Association General Counsel Dennis Bailey said they’ve received a few questions about public meetings under the emergency order, mostly about recording the meetings and being present for them.

The governor’s order limits “public gatherings” to 10 people or less, a requirement the Cullman City Council has tried to follow during public meetings, sometime to the extent of moving City Clerk Wes Moore and Mayor Woody Jacobs to the doorway of the council chamber.

According to Lein, keeping the number of people in the room to 10 and under may not necessarily be required as the meeting could be classified as the “work” of the city, an exception to the 10 person rule. However, she said, they “are required to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to avoid a gathering of 10 persons or more and to ensure that the persons in attendance maintain six feet social distancing.”

At the Cullman City Council meetings, officials have been limiting occupancy to 10 people, even though the room can hold more than 200 people.

City Clerk Wes Moore said, “We wanted to basically comply with the public gathering rule, like others are doing.”

He said they are trying to balance open government with social distancing. “I’m a little concerned about the planning commission meeting coming up. I expect there will people who will want to comment,” he said.

Moore said he’ll be working with the commission to help maintain distancing requirements, while still allowing people to be heard. “We don’t want to limit the public comment, we want to be just as open as we’ve always been,” he said.

The council, like others, has been live streaming their meetings through FaceBook. The most recent council meeting has more than 900 views, so far. Moore monitors comments and answers some of the questions that get posted. “Not all can be answered during live streaming,” he said.

Even when social distancing restrictions are lifted, the city may consider the continued use of technology to broadcast its meetings. “The normal we go back to may not be the normal it was a year ago,” said Moore.