ESCONDIDO COUNCIL TO START IN-PERSON MEETINGS

Other area cities expect to follow suit in coming weeks

For the first time in more than a year, Escondido is poised to hold an in-person City Council meeting at City Hall, with members of the public invited to attend.

City Manager Jeff Epp said the city is planning to hold an in-person meeting April 21, for the first time since March 2020, when the entire state went into lockdown to combat the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past year, Escondido, like other cities across San Diego County and the state, has been holding virtual council meetings, with most council and city staff members participating over a videoconference platform. The public can comment on city business via emails, which are read out loud by City Clerk Zack Beck.

The April 7 council meeting will be held virtually, and no meeting is scheduled for April 14. The next meeting, on April 21, will bring the council and the public together in City Council chambers.

“The idea is to have the council members present, allow the public to attend, and to utilize space (room capacity) limitations, social distancing, etc. to adhere to the health guidance applicable at the time,” Epp wrote in an email.

While officials are still working out details of how public comment will be handled, Epp said until the pandemic hit, members of the public had the option of speaking at the meeting or submitting written comments, and the city is planning to continue to provide both options.

Other North County cities are also beginning to discuss a return to in-person meetings.

San Marcos City Clerk Phil Scollick said his city plans to hold its April 13 meeting virtually, and then look at returning to in-person meetings “hopefully sooner rather than later, it’ll be nice to see everyone in person again.”

Oceanside officials are

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meeting to discuss the resumption of in-person meetings but have not set a target date, said City Clerk Zeb Navarro. Carlsbad also is continuing to hold virtual council meetings and has not set a date to resume meeting in person.

At last month’s Escondido council meeting, the panel discussed a proposal by Councilman Joe Garcia to provide a way for residents to comment in their own voices on issues coming before the council, rather than relying on the city clerk to read their comments aloud.

When the council hears directly from constituents, “We can hear their struggles in their voice, we can hear their encouragement, we can hear their emotion. That will be very helpful to us,” Garcia said.

City staff outlined several options for the council to consider for bringing public voices back to council deliberations. They included voice mail messages that could be played back during meetings, live calls to people who have preregistered, and

installation of a new videoconferencing platform that would allow virtual public participation.

While council members said they supported the idea of people commenting in their own voices, they also pushed for resumption of inperson meetings where the public could directly address the council.

“My primary recommendation is we get back into council chambers,” said Councilman Mike Morasco. “Other cities are meeting inside council chambers. We have the room, we have the capacity, we have the ability to space, that would be my preference.”

Mayor Paul Mcnamara said the option to send in comments electronically that are read aloud appears to have boosted public participation. For example, more than 130 comments were sent regarding a proposal to legalize cannabis sales in Escondido on the agenda for the March 24 meeting. And last summer, amid nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota, 431 comments flowed in during a discussion of Escondido’s

police budget.

“The truth of the matter is we’ve had more people, because they don’t have to come to the meeting, make comments about whatever the topic may be,” Mcnamara said.

Epp urged the council not to adopt new public comment options immediately, as he expected the city to soon return to in-person meetings. In addition, he said the state Legislature is considering new rules intended to increase access for public participation at all levels of government.

“Certainly one option for you is to simply wait and, first of all, hope we can get back into chambers within a couple of meetings, and second, see what unfolds at the broader state level on oral communications,” Epp said.

Garcia said he was willing to wait a week to see if in-person meetings resume, but that the council should adopt a policy on public communications in case it’s needed in the future. He proposed adding the option of public comment via voicemail messages, which was approved by the council on a 5-0 vote.