Thursday August 13, 2020 ~ WEST SHORE
by Mary Brooke, editor | West Shore Voice News
In the west shore area, most of the formal municipal council meetings are held behind closed doors for reasons of public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is dial-in and/or livestreaming of many of these meetings online, with various ways for the public to participate (sending questions ahead, dialing in, watching live online, etc). That’s how it is for Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Highlands and Sooke, as well as the SD62 school board.
The only municipality presently not livestreaming but still holding meetings in person in council chambers is the District of Metchosin. They limit the number of people (presenters and public) at meetings to 12, in addition to council members. Agenda packages are made available at noon on the Friday before the meeting.
While most municipalities do their best to invite public participation (by email, or live during the call), sometimes there are technical issues with virtual, livestreamed and dial-in meetings … Zoom calls get dropped, or people can’t find the dial in codes at the last minute.
Technology-human interaction happens. Or not. People fumble with mute on or off, followed by use of valuable air time with “can you hear me?” and such. Almost no one looks good with their face pasted up close to a laptop screen. Input via the chat function can be missed by the moderator or seen by some users and not others. Faux backgrounds may conceal the real environment from where you’re transmitting but funny how so many people choose the same ones.
Meetings through Zoom access put a lot of control into the hands of the council or board. It makes celebrities of people who are live, and ghosts of people who are no longer in the room in a public space.
The pandemic is still likely to last a while. Over time, the lack of in-person participation at formal meetings will erode the power of presence, showing us only the faces of people on the agenda.
Public participation through the chat function is often moderated (questions can be ignored or reworded by the moderator) and strips out the full value of involvement. Chat input lasts forever (always in the cloud somewhere).
Media participation at public meetings has become a thing of the past. Questions on behalf of the public interest are mostly relegated to before or after the meeting. Transparency and accountability were already in a fragile state due to the creep of corporate control over public messaging prior to the pandemic; now remote technologies have shifted even more control into the corporate boardroom. The playmaster is the live-meeting keyboard operator.
While remote technologies are keeping everyone connected during the pandemic, we are all actually moving further and further into isolated compartments, stepping forward as summoned.
Meeting calendar: Bulletins page with links.
As posted on municipal websites, formal meetings coming up in the near future include Langford Council Aug 17 | Colwood Committee of the Whole Sept 8 | View Royal Council Sept 8 | Highlands Sept 8 | Colwood Council Sept 14 | Sooke council Sept 14. |Bulletins page with links.
There is a Sooke School District 62 public board meeting on Sept 1.
Capital Regional District meetings are held online. Next board meeting on September 9.
This year the Union of BC Municipalities convention for mayors and councillors across BC will be held remotely.