City Commission to resume in-person meetings

Apr. 20—When Owensboro City Commissioners meet for their Tuesday, April 20, meeting at City Hall, they'll be doing something they haven't done since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They'll meet in-person.

Mayor Tom Watson said commissioners will have in-person meetings on Tuesday and again on Thursday, when they hold a work session to go over the city's 2021-22 budget.

City Manager Nate Pagan said both meetings will be open to the public, but space will be limited, given social distancing requirements.

The City Commission went to virtual meetings when distancing requirements made it impossible to have everyone in the room together for meetings, Watson said.

Since Thursday's noon budget hearing at City Hall is to gather public comment, Watson said it made sense to also have Tuesday's meeting in-person instead of virtually.

"I know we are going to be in-person, and we'll have a small amount of staff," Watson said.

Precautions will be maintained to reduce the number of people in the City Commission room during the meetings.

"Even when we do the budget, we'll have staff members coming in one at a time," Watson said.

Meeting virtually worked well enough, Watson said, because the commission's agendas are mostly routine.

"The city manager gave a good synopsis of what we were going to talk about at the meeting," Watson said. "If there were questions, I can meet with (commissioners) one at a time, or (Pagan) can meet with them two at a time."

By law, commissioners can't meet with a quorum of members to discuss business without declaring a public meeting.

Watson said meeting virtually without the public present wasn't good in terms of government transparency, adding "but it's the only way we could do it."

Both Tuesday's meeting and Thursday's budget hearing will also be available for viewing live through the city's website and Facebook page.

Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly said Fiscal Court members have continued to meet in-person, but added that the meetings have been closed to the public, except for a special meeting over a zoning issue. Meetings have been available for viewing on Fiscal Court's Facebook page.

"It leaves a lot to be desired," said Mattingly of the virtual meetings, but added he does take comments from the public over Facebook during the meetings.

The county will continue streaming meetings over Facebook when in-person meetings return, Mattingly said.

"Facebook Live always had more people (watching) than when we were live in the courtroom," Mattingly said.

Pagan said the city would also continue steaming its meetings.

Mattingly said county officials will monitor case numbers while deciding when they can begin having the public in meetings.

"We have talked about it," he said. "The (case) numbers are on the rise again, so we are waiting to see what's going on. ...We have been reviewing it on a monthly basis anyway."

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse