By Pepper Parr
November 10th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Assuming the Standing Committee recommendation is approved and that City Council puts their stamp of approval on it – there will be a hybrid approach to attendance at council meetings.
While each member of Council can make their own decision there is said to be enough room for all seven members of Council to sit side by side separated by plexi-glass dividers.
The Clerk and the City Manager could also attend and there is provision for up to eight members of the public to attend.
Advisory meetings will continue to be virtual until there is a clear sense as to how much Delta version of the Covid19 virus increases the number of new infections.
Internal staff meetings will be dependent on the internal health and safety guidelines. Advisory committee meetings will be reviewed at a later date, and their meeting rules will build upon learnings gained from City Council and standing committee meetings and internal guidelines and policies.
The City Manager will be joined by some staff once the Council Chamber is opened up to public meetings.
If there are any changes made by Public Health Ontario, hybrid meetings will be adjusted accordingly to ensure participant safety, therefore the plan will be flexible and responsive. Modifications to the way meetings occur will be determined by the City Clerk and City Manager, in accordance with public health regulations, in consultation and with advice from the internal Health and Safety group through Human Resources.
Physical in-person participation of members of Council is optional. Staff are configuring the Council Chambers to be hybrid, to accommodate in-person and remote participation. Members of Council will have a choice as to whether to participate in person or remote (for each meeting). Work will be completed to ensure that all participants have an equitable and seamless meeting experience.
The assumption is that elements of hybrid meetings will continue after the pandemic.
Will days like this return?
There is no update on proxy voting provisions, or recommendations at this time. Staff will monitor other jurisdictions and keep Council apprised.
Last July Council passed the following staff direction, for a report back in September 2021 regarding in person hybrid Council meetings.
Direct the City Clerk to initiate the planning and implementation of a gradual transition of City Committee/Council meetings (as well as public access) to a hybrid model of Committee/Council that accommodates both in-person as well as continued virtual options and report back on a plan at the September CSSRA Committee meeting with a projected transition/implementation goal of Q4 2021.
As the pandemic progresses some of this information may become out of date and guidelines may be required to change. Staff will work with the necessary groups to periodically review and ensure the health and safety of those physically participating in Council Chambers meetings. Any changes will be effectively communicated to all participants.
From a public health perspective there is no guidance or regulation limiting the duration of an event or gathering. Exposures less than 15 minutes are considered low risk (in most cases), exposures over 15 minutes would need to consider other factors to determine risk. Mitigation may help reduce risk, such as masks, distance, ventilation, and plexiglass barriers.
The City of Burlington has a relatively small Council, with only seven members. A review of the Council table yields that there is enough room to distance participants around the Council table to allow for 10 participants. It is recommended that the 10 participants include, all members of Council, the Clerk, the City Manager, and members of senior staff speaking to reports. Total capacity in the chamber has increased to 20 persons, 10 around the Council desk, 8 in the gallery, and two AV Techs.
Public delegations will be permitted if the initial phases of the plan are successful, and this item will be fully discussed in a subsequent report in February 2022. For health and safety measures, members of the public will not be allowed within the dais, the metal partition within the Chambers.
Masks in the Council Chambers
Those who are intending to participate at an in-person hybrid meeting will be required to wear a mask when they are not speaking. Only one person will be permitted to take their mask off in the Chambers at a time. After a participant speaks and they have yielded the floor to the Chair, or to another speaker, then the mask must be put back on.
Council Chambers equipment will be wiped down by facilities staff (current practice). At present, small internal meetings are permitted, through the City of Burlington Safety Plan, however all participants must be adequately distanced and must remained masked at all times.
Cleaning will increase when members of the public are permitted into the Council Chambers. In addition, masking requirements may also change when members of the public are permitted. Currently the City of Burlington’s Mask By-law, 62-2020 as amended, indicates once a space is open to the public, masking requirements as per the By-law are in effect.
Setting up a hybrid approach still leaves that sticky question of: Do people taking part in a meeting at city have to be vaccinated. Apparently not.
Mandatory vaccination is only required to access certain listed spaces considered as high risk. In contrast, meeting and event spaces that are used for the purpose of delivering or supporting government services and court services are specifically excluded from the mandatory vaccination provision. Therefore, vaccination to enter City hall and more specifically the City Hall Council Chambers is not required provincially.
The City has an option of imposing stricter requirements for either City Hall or Council Chambers, such as mandatory vaccination, on the basis of public health considerations. However, the regulation is quite clear that delivering or supporting government services is excluded from the vaccination provision, and restrictions may invite future challenges, including potential Charter challenges.
Air Filtration and Fresh Air into the Building
During the pandemic, the City’s air handling unit filters have been upgraded to a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value of 13, MERV 13 as recommended by the City’s Health and Safety Team, in consultation with Facility Assets/Operations staff.
The air handler has also had an adjustment made to increase the fresh air intake and is equipped to monitor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations; the unit will automatically increase fresh air further, when needed. The system will be monitored regularly to ensure adequate fresh air is brought into the building.
Proposed Timeline
The following timeline is built on a best-case scenario. The timeline is iterative and deliberate to allow for staff to review how meetings occur, learn from experience, and adjust. We are constantly learning about the virus and prevention, therefore practices or procedures may be amended throughout the timeline. Should there be a spike in cases or another lockdown the timeline may be paused or rolled back to the previous stage.
Full Slate of standing committee meetings (Not Audit), staff making presentations will be permitted as a pilot.
Council meetings are relatively short, on average about one hour. In contrast, the standing committee meetings have extended throughout the workday into the evening. Council was selected as the pilot as it is customarily the shortest in the meeting cycle. In January, the hybrid pilot may include the Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Committee (EICS) which is customarily the shortest standing committee meeting at this time.
Each member of Council will be separated by a sheet of plexiglass and there will be additional cameras installed.
Should Council endorse the plan, staff will include in the December 6 report, how the technology will be mapped out, as to how the technology will affect the remote meeting mechanics and the guide. Further instruction will be provided in advance of the hybrid pilot, to all participants.
This picture was taken in March of 2019 – while many didn’t know it but we were headed into a pandemic – this group didn’t seem to know or care.
Procedural Changes
Currently, City of Burlington remote meetings operate in the authority of the Remote Meeting Guide, working in concert with the Procedure By-law. If Council chooses to pursue hybrid meetings, the Guide will be reviewed in terms of the new technology and hybrid processes that may be introduced. Staff will return to the December 6, 2021 CSSRA meeting with a path forward. It is anticipated that the Remote Meeting guide will be refreshed and formally adopted as a schedule to the Procedure By-law.
In order to conduct the December 14, 2021 Council meeting, a special Council meeting on December 6, 2021 will be required, to ratify any procedural changes before the hybrid meeting occurs.
Advisory Committees
At present, Room 247 in City Hall has been outfitted for in-person staff meetings. A potential venue for hybrid meetings, the room has the capability to incorporate use of a meeting room computer, and a mounted camera. If the strategy is approved, throughout Q1 2022 Office of the City Clerk staff will work with their respective committees to determine whether their committees wish to pursue a hybrid model.
A decision to pursue a hybrid model will require a majority vote of the committee. If they are to resume, only six members will be able to participate in person (with one Clerk to make seven total), and masks must be worn at all times when in the building and throughout their committee meetings.
Strategy/process
Committee must determine whether the risk of adding more participants to a meeting in the Council Chambers outweighs potential benefits. As the virus continues, with each infection, the chances of the virus mutating as it replicates increases.
Mutations may lead to dominant variants, which may be stronger than the previous. With the Delta variant in Ontario, cases are beginning to increase, and there may be a fourth wave of infection. This variant is strong and contagious. The Delta variant has changed the approach to gathering controls, which has challenged previous thinking on public health protection.
Options Considered
An alternate is to defer this report until the pandemic has subsided to allow for hybrid meetings to be piloted in safer conditions. This would allow for the hybrid pilot to take place without having to factor in as many public health restrictions. The elimination of in- person delegations, and by only having Council and staff who are subject to the Vaccination Policy in the Council Chambers may reduce some of the risk. This will also reduce reporting, and the background research required.
That line above about: The assumption is that elements of hybrid meetings will continue after the pandemic. Is there any need for that other than some members deciding they don’t want to leave the house and drive to city hall?
I smell an election in the air …….Council should of sat in house months ago