In the wake of the global pandemic that has called for social distancing, District council has enacted measures that would allow its meetings to occur remotely.
At its meeting on March 17, council voted unanimously in favour of changing the municipality’s procedural bylaw to adjust rules on quorum to allow for more elected officials to join via teleconferencing or the internet. Currently, some measures limit their ability to phone in for their meetings. It would also allow council to hold “electronic meetings” on the occasion the mayor or acting mayor declares an emergency.
Council passed three readings of these measures. Now council has to provide notice of them to the public before final adoption.
True to the era of COVID-19, councillors Chris Pettingill and Doug Race joined over the phone. Pettingill didn’t give a reason during the meeting, but Race said he’d been travelling abroad and now was in self-isolation.
The government has asked all who return from out of the country to quarantine themselves for 14 days to prevent the spread of the virus.
