GuelphToday received the following letter from Sian Matwey about the need to return to in-person council meetings:
As someone who loves local politics and usually spends huge amounts of time at city council meetings, I have to be honest with you: I have NOT watched one single ZOOM council meeting!
Our children are back in school, our buses are full again, our restaurants, bars and churches are open. So I am wondering why we don't have in-person council meetings yet?
I realize that there are COVID rules that need to take place, but after reading the Mayor’s most recent quote on the downtown dining district I felt some hope. Cam said: “In times of adversity, we have to come together to find creative solutions to complex challenges.”
I think that creative solution was recently started when councillor’s Christine Billings and Mike Salisbury held an outdoor meeting at Margaret Greene Park where 100 people stood physically distanced to express their distaste for the proposal to build a traction power substation.
We could hold city council meetings and still follow the COVID rules and keep everyone safe. Why not have six councillors stay in the horseshoe and the other six can move down to where staff usually sit and move the staff to the front row seats? You can then have delegates sign up online or be able to call in to reserve a “social distancing” seat in the chamber itself.
Or better yet, why not open up the River Run Centre and use that then you could have even more people attending "social distancing" meetings. Simply have security guards at the door taking temperatures and requiring masks be worn, even when delegating. There could also be a container of wipes that can be used to wipe off the podium after each person speaks.
Frankly, there are far too many "contentious" items coming up on the council agenda that need to be discussed publicly and this will also help with the “transparency” that city hall enjoys to boast about. Two topics that come to mind where this “new normal” would be very helpful is the new proposed supportive housing project on Marilyn Drive and council compensation and ward boundaries review.
I personally think people on both sides of these issues deserve the right to express how they are feeling.
Sian Matwey
