Council ponders opening meetings

Mayor would like council to re-open chambers to public

Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley is encouraging City Council to examine re-opening their meetings to the public.

Speaking on Sept. 21 at Lorain Council’s regular session, Bradley said with City Council chambers set to install partitions separating each member, he believes opening the meetings to the public is the direction to go.

“It would be my position that if we get the barriers in place for our council members, we’d have to limit the number of people that come into council but it’s my suggestion that we consider starting to open up council meetings again, as of the October meetings,” Bradley said.

With the novel coronavirus pandemic impacting government bodies across the region, Lorain Council meetings have been closed to the public since midMarch after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the building.

The partitions to be installed are being paid for through funding from the federal CARES Act and will enable council members to return to their regular seats in chambers.

Council President Joel Arredondo suggested the possibility of placing an additional partition to separate the audience.

Bradley added that government bodies are exempted from the 10-person limit for in-person gatherings mandated by the state of Ohio and it would allow for a limited number of people from the public to attend the meetings to enable six feet of social distancing.

Council-at-Large member Mary Springowski strongly supported moving forward with re-opening council to the public.

“As long as people aren’t coming past the gate into the actual area, they’re sitting here, even if they’re coming up to the microphone to speak if you’ve got the partitions there,” Springowski said.

“And if everybody is following the protocol of wearing their masks and social distancing the six feet apart, I don’t see a problem with them coming back; I don’t see a problem with them speaking.”

City Council eventually needs to return to some semblance of normalcy, even with face coverings and social distancing, she said.

“It’s going to limit how many people can be in the chamber at any given time, but that’s what the reality is,” Springowski said. “But, I do think that we need to start working within the parameters of the protocol.”

Council-at-Large member Mitch Fallis agreed with Springowski, noting that whatever council decides, keeping the public safe should be the No. 1 priority.