Zoom or room? Council will decide how to meet

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — There were growing pains. There was a learning curve. But like every town and city council in America, Jackson’s elected leaders and staff figured out how to hold public meetings without a town hall during 2020.

Now, at its regular meeting tomorrow, the town council will decide whether it wants to meeting physically or virtually or by some hybrid manner.

During the spring of 2020, staff admittedly struggled to establish and maintain the various platforms to allow remote participation and public comment. Finally, staff IT settled on using two video platforms—Zoom and Swagit—and things smoothed out over the summer of 2020.

With COVID precautions easing, councilors have been returning to town hall for meetings. Some presenters and public participants, however, have preferred the convenience of taking in the meeting from home. And that’s a problem.

According to Jackson staffers, it’s far easier to do one or the other but not a mix of both. First off, it takes two staff members to run a meeting that includes video participation. Secondly, audio, in particular, suffers from trying to hear each other when some are ‘in the room’ and others are online.

Staff is also aware that allowing members of the public the ability to voice their opinion remotely takes a step towards leveling the playing field in terms of equal access for the working public, principal caregivers in families unable to leave home, those community members that may have health issues affecting their ability to travel in person to the meeting, those community members with concerns about COVID, and the accessibility of meetings during winter or extreme weather events.

Keeping a virtual attendance alternative is expected to cost the town $125,000 in technology upgrades alone in FY2022. Staff is also suggesting a special hire of a ‘meeting proctor’ may be necessary moving forward.