OCEAN CITY — Resort officials this week reversed course again and agreed to go back to in-person Mayor and Council meetings at City Hall.
Throughout much of the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mayor and Council held meetings virtually. In June, when Maryland entered stage two of its Roadmap to Recovery plan, the Mayor and Council went back to meeting in person at City Hall in a hybrid format with Councilman Dennis Dare participating remotely.
Through much of the summer, the meetings were held in that hybrid format, although the elected officials were not all seated at their usual positions on the dais. The one exception was Dare, who had expressed early he was uncomfortable meeting in a public forum and continued to participate remotely.
Then in August, the Mayor and Council went back to the strictly virtual format for a variety of reasons. For one thing, there were often glitches in the hybrid system with Dare participating remotely and his colleagues and staff and the public meeting in person at City Hall. There were also concerns raised about effectively distancing socially with the number of chairs in the chambers and the way they were arranged, among other things.
However, with many of the key COVID metrics stabilizing in Maryland and the state entering the next stage in the recovery plan, Councilman Tony DeLuca last week made a motion to return to meeting in person at City Hall. The motion was withdrawn after considerable debate and City Manager Doug Miller and staff were directed to revisit the safety precautions in place in the council chambers and make the appropriate changes to ensure proper distancing.
Those changes, including the removal of some chairs in the public area and the greater spacing of others have been completed along with other safety measures. Satisfied with the changes, DeLuca again on Tuesday made a motion to go back to in-person meetings at City Hall and this time the motion carried unanimously. As a result, the Mayor and Council will go back to meeting in public at next Monday’s regular meeting.
Councilman Matt James said he supported the change and suggested yet another alteration to further protect the councilmembers.
“I’m fine with going back with appropriate distancing and wearing masks,” he said. “If it would make other members more comfortable, I think we could install plexiglass dividers between the chairs on the dais.”
Council President Lloyd Martin also supported going back to in-person meetings and suggested the mask requirement be relaxed once everyone is seated.
“I do like in-person meeting better,” he said. “I think we’re ready to get back to that. I do have a problem understanding people when they’re wearing masks, as long as we’re socially distanced, I feel like we don’t need masks on during the meetings.”
Councilman John Gehrig said the remote option should be available to those who would feel more comfortable meeting that way.
“I think that anybody who would like to continue to participate remotely should be able to do that,” he said. “That goes for the public as well.”
Mayor Rick Meehan said the changes at City Hall made meeting in person possible, but cautioned against relaxing the mask requirements.
“I’ve been in the council chambers the last few days and I’ve seen some of the steps that have been taken from a public safety standpoint,” he said. “I do think everybody in there should continue to wear a mask. That’s still the policy in City Hall. I like the plexiglass idea, but I think we’d have to look at ways to enlarge the dais. I would continue to urge everyone to wear a mask though and set a good example.”
