This is one in a series of articles to mark Sunshine Week, which is a national initiative to educate the public about the importance of open government.
MORGANTOWN — How do you hold a public meeting when meeting in public becomes taboo?
And how do you ensure said public continues to have access to the proceedings?
These are questions every government body has grappled with over the past year as a result of COVID-19.
For Morgantown City Council and the Monongalia County Commission, the answers have been quite different.
While Morgantown has held all its public meetings online since late last March, the commission has never suspended in-person meetings.
Anyone entering the county courthouse must be masked and have their temperature checked as part of the security screening process. The commission rearranged its meeting chamber to put adequate distance between the seats.
“We always believed that we wanted people to be able to personally come to us if they had a question and meet with us face-to-face. We think that’s so much better, plus we have the facility to handle that while keeping everyone spread out, which a lot of groups didn’t,” Commissioner Tom Bloom said.
The commission also started livestreaming its meetings via its YouTube channel in response to the pandemic.
That said, there currently isn’t a method for an individual to provide public comment during the meeting if they’re not comfortable showing up in person.
“We’re getting there, but we don’t have that yet,” Commission President Sean Sikora said. “But we also made a decision right at the beginning not to have anything controversial or any big decisions until people could feel comfortable participating in-person.”
Sikora admitted that December’s 30-year, $60-plus million payment in lieu of taxes deal with Longview Power is an exception to that claim, explaining the commission was under a deadline.
He also noted there was no feedback about lack of access on the issue or the specific meeting, which filled the commission’s socially distanced chamber.
On the other hand, the city of Morgantown is coming up on a year without in-person public meetings.
“It’s not ideal, but it allows the work of government and nonprofits to keep moving forward,” City Councilor Jenny Selin said. “It’s what we have during COVID.”
Selin conceded there is a concern that the technology may be a barrier for some, while also noting remote meetings can also provide easier access to people without child care or reliable transportation.
Any time prior to the start of the meeting, members of the public can sign up to speak via a form on the city’s website, morgantownwv.gov. There’s currently a form available for Tuesday’s city council meeting.
And people are signing up.
Morgantown City Council has seen a large turnout of public speakers for a number of topics over the past year, including the Diamond Village encampment and the city’s proposed civilian police review and advisory board.
“When there’s an issue that people care about we see 20 people or more signing up. It has not dampened the ability of people to participate, but it can make it a little more complicated,” Selin said.
Moving forward, Bloom said he believes it’s time for government bodies to again meet face-to-face.
The city says that day may be approaching, but it’s not here yet.
“For the immediate future the plan is to continue virtual meetings until more citizens are vaccinated and COVID numbers continue to decline,” Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy said.
“One reason we aren’t rushing back to in-person meetings is because, from our discussions, most people aren’t comfortable being around groups of people for extended periods yet. Having in-person meetings could potentially make it more difficult for the public to attend or to provide comment at the meetings.”
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