Eau Claire City Council gradually returning to normal

May 17—EAU CLAIRE — For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, over half of the Eau Claire City Council sat in City Hall a week ago for a meeting.

As more people are vaccinated and few new coronavirus cases crop up, the majority of the city's elected officials now feel comfortable meeting in-person though a few did still use their smartphones or computers to attend.

Next week the council will vote on whether to continue holding its meetings online through Cisco's Webex teleconferencing software, which allows city officials to choose to either attend in-person or virtually.

Renewing the ability to meet virtually during the pandemic has previously sailed through, but council President Terry Weld expects there will be more discussion at next week's vote than prior decisions.

"We plan to at least start looking ahead as we work our way back to some sort of normalcy," he said. "We need to start those discussions now to start planning and working with staff."

While City Hall is open to the public during regular business hours, the only way for residents to participate in public meetings remains virtually through Webex.

Switching back to meetings with the public in council chambers to provide input to elected officials and view the proceedings in-person will involve some new considerations.

Previously with dozens of chairs for the public to sit, the room has been reconfigured to add more space between council members as a method to avoid spreading germs between people.

With most of the audience space now consumed by desks and chairs for elected officials and city employees, only a few people from the general public could be in the room in its shrunken capacity due to those COVID-19 precautions.

How to accommodate the public via a waiting area, overflow room or other location to watch the proceedings before they can enter the council chamber for their opportunity to speak is being talked about.

"All these things we'll have to still work out," Weld said, "but we're starting to have that discussion."

He noted that a decision on virtual meetings would not just apply for the City Council's proceedings, but also Eau Claire's numerous boards, commissions and committees.

And while the city is independent of the Eau Claire County Board and Eau Claire school board, Weld said the three local governments have so far been in sync on opting for virtual meetings.

City Council Vice President Catherine Emmanuelle believes that other elected officials in the area are also weighing when they'll return to regular in-person meetings.

"I have great assurance we're not the only unit of local government that's going to deliberate on this," she said.

Emmanuelle wouldn't speculate how the council's May 25 vote on extending virtual meetings will go, but said public health advice from the national, state and local level will factor into the council's decision as well as input from city staff.

While Weld has spoken favorably about a return to more face-to-face communication, the council president did note that there were benefits to making meetings available via online platforms.

For people who don't like public speaking or would've had difficulty traveling to City Hall, Weld noted that Webex has helped them participate in the council's meetings.

"Increasing the opportunities for engagement is one of the positives that has come of this," he said.

Emmanuelle also heard from people who like the online meetings and could see them become incorporated into traditional in-person meetings as a way to expand access to public hearings.

"I have noticed a great value and feedback from constituents that they appreciate the virtual option," she said. "I would really like to see us make virtual participation optional in the future."

When the pandemic began last spring, Weld led council meetings at City Hall usually joined by two other council members, but other city leaders attended virtually.

Returning as they felt comfortable to do so, there were five council members there in person at a meeting last month. The number had risen to seven for the May 11 meeting.