REMAIN REMOTE?
As the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic begin to ease, a question remains in front of local government boards.
When the pandemic began, some online meetings got off to a rocky start.
In April 2020, a Norristown meeting got hacked and pornographic images were put up on the screen, and that was not the only time that happened said Holly Fishel, policy and research director for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.
“We had another meeting where people were shouting racial slurs,” she said, adding that officials quickly got up to speed on the security measures needed to prevent such interruptions.
“It took about five or six months before most townships had good procedures in place,” Fishel said.
But the learning curve was climbed and most officials, and members of the public, got the hang of things eventually.
Now, having proven that public meetings can be conducted online, the question boards face is do they continue to broadcast when health considerations no longer warrant it?
Some municipalities saw a big spike in public participation in meetings, while others saw little to no change.
In Phoenixville, the borough council is all in with increasing public access to public meetings, said Borough Council President Jonathan Ewald.
He said when COVID-19 social distancing restrictions forced council’s meetings online, they saw a marked increase in public participation, both in viewing the meetings and participating online.
“As far as we were concerned, that was reason enough,” said Ewald, who said live online meetings are different than just televising meetings, or recording them and airing them later.
Phoenixville Council already televised its meetings, so it was an easy decision to upgrade the equipment to allow for live, online meetings to continue, even if just for the increased public access and participation.
“It allows people to be more involved in their government, it makes it more accessible to more people, so it increases transparency,” Ewald said. “I don’t see a downside.”
But Jim Marks does — cost versus benefit.
Chairman of the North Coventry Board of Supervisors, Marks said unlike Phoenixville, North Coventry saw very little increase in public participation during their COVID-imposed online meetings.
“We would get about 18 to 20 people at most during a regular meeting, and some of them are staff, and that’s about what we would get at the in-person meetings we had before COVID,” Marks said.
Nevertheless, the supervisors instructed Township Manager Erica Batdorf to find out what other municipalities are doing and what it would take for North Coventry to continue online participation.
The price for a “hybrid option,” which allows officials and the public to be online or in-person, came with a pretty steep price tag Marks said — $7,500.
“That’s just to get the equipment and set it up. Then we have to have someone run it,” said Marks. “I don’t know if it makes sense to do all that just to add two or three people, I don’t know how you justify the expense.”
Luckily for Pottstown Borough Council, the expense for new video and computer equipment was covered with the franchise fee from a new contract with Comcast.
During the pandemic,
Pottstown Borough Council held its meetings online until this month, when it was decided to go to a “hybrid model.” Under this model, some council members are in the council room, and others participated remotely. Members of the public could participate either remotely or in-person as they chose.
One thing that may force changes for boards across the commonwealth is the uncertain fate of Act 15, which allowed public meetings to be held remotely as a way to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19.
But that act soon may be revoked. To be ready for that, council adopted a new policy Monday that permits up to three council people to participate remotely so long as four are there physically to establish a quorum.
Borough Manager Justin Keller told council that there is a bill pending in Harrisburg to change the law to allow for online meetings to continue.
That’s actually not a problem for second-class townships in Pennsylvania, said Fishel.
Although requirements for physical quorums exist in the Pennsylvania Borough Code, for example, “there is no such requirement in the Second Class Township code,” she said. As a result, second-class townships still must have a quorum to take official action, but that entire quorum can be online if necessary.
Fishel said “a good number” of second-class townships in Pennsylvania are adopting the hybrid model, “particularly in the suburbs around major cities.”
Pottstown Councilwoman Lisa Vanni supports maintaining the remote option. “I think we showed during the pandemic that it can be done seamlessly,” she said during Monday’s meeting, which she attended from home.
There is no question that the Pottstown School Board will continue to offer the public a chance to attend from home.
Years before the pandemic, the board had complained regularly about the public failing to attend meetings and get involved. But since the board began livestreaming board meetings and then, committee meetings, the audience steadily grew.
Emily Overdorf, social media and communications specialist for the district, recently did a comparison of public participation during online meetings. She compared five months during 2019, before the pandemic, to the same five months after the pandemic restrictions were in place.
The numbers for some months during the pandemic, increased three- and four-fold.
From August to December of 2019, the number of people participating in online Pottstown School Board meetings ranged from a low of 248 in December to a high of 619 in October.
When the pandemic hit, people scrambling for information about how and where their children would go to school pushed the numbers to greater heights.
All meetings from August through December in 2020 saw more than 1,000 participants; with a high of more than 1,500 views and 71 comments during the Nov. 19, 2020 meeting, when the plans for returning to inperson education were on the agenda.
“We had our meetings live-streamed even before the pandemic, but with us board members being on Zoom I’ve heard comments from online viewers that they can see us better, hear us better, and can see the presentations,” said Pottstown School Board member Laura Johnson. “A lot of pluses for awareness and engagement there.”
“I love how the PSD school board meetings are available now,” Pottstown resident Chastity Jaycox wrote on The Mercury’s Facebook page, responding to a request for opinions about remote meetings.
“As Laura said, I could not see and certainly not hear well when they were in person and streamed before. It is so convenient to be able to know what is going on even when childcare or schedule is an issue,” Jaycox posted.
“I’m a PSD parent. I wish for our board meetings to continue a virtual option,” posted Monica Moser.
“I watch most of the meetings, as I like to be informed as much as I can. I also like to hear information straight from the speaker’s mouth. I appreciate the ability to watch the meetings from wherever my schedule demands, revisit if I misunderstood something and to be able to catch the meeting at a later time altogether,” she posted. “Personally, I wouldn’t make it to one-quarter of the meetings without this option.”
“I think there have been more people in attendance at board meetings since they don’t have to find sitters and travel,” posted Mercury reader Christine Michelle. “I would like to see the virtual option remain. The more convenient the meetings are for all, the more likely to have the numbers show.”
COVID-driven restrictions seem to have made some board members convert to the idea as well.
The Limerick Township Board of Supervisors initially resisted the idea of livestreaming their meetings, holding in-person meetings at the start of the pandemic and all but one of its members eschewing masks.
It took a petition signed by more than 200 people before a livestream appeared on the township’s Facebook page in late summer of 2020.
Since then, they have become par for the course and it seems they will continue.
Wednesday, Limerick Township Manager Dan Kerr responded to an inquiry by noting that despite the meetings returning to their regular format in July, without limits on how many people can be in the room, livestreaming will continue.
It’s even becoming a campaign issue.
Both Beth Nosek Flor, who is a supervisor candidate in East Vincent Township, and Stephen Schur, running for supervisor in East Coventry, weighed in to support remote access to public meetings.
“It’s the responsibility of elected officials to make government accessible to their constituents, and this is a great way to do it,” posted
Flor.
“There is no reason for the public to be denied virtual access that forces greater transparency,” Schur posted.
“Remote meeting should stay,” posted New Hanover resident Russel Oister. “It promotes awareness, community involvement and holds elected officials accountable.”
But it appears Oister, who regularly attends New Hanover Supervisor meetings in person, will be disappointed with his township’s stance.
When a reporter emailed
New Hanover Township Manager Jamie Gwynn to ask if the June 3 meeting would be livestreamed on Facebook, as earlier meetings had, he replied simply “nope.”
Asked why Gwynn replied, “we have plenty of inperson seats available.”
After being asked why the livestreaming would be discontinued when it had been demonstrated it was possible, Gwynn replied “we had and have plenty of seats available where you can social distance, wear a mask, etc., if you have concerns.”