The City of Kamloops is looking for ways to enable the public to come to committee meetings and hearings in person again.

Mayor Ken Christian says there are a few boxes to check off to make sure those meetings are done properly.

“Is the public invited in? Yes, the public is invited into the TCC as of today. But there’s a maximum number of public that would be invited in. In terms of the broadcast capacity, we’re not obligated to broadcast our proceedings, we’re obligated to hold them in public and have the public scrutinize them. The potential for us to do that off-site is there.

He also says video conferences are not the ideal format for committee meetings, where there is typically more back-and-forth between councillors.

“It’s more of a discussion, and it’s purposefully set that way to provide us an opportunity to be iterative. And this isn’t really the format to do that; it’s a good format to have a lecture and lecture mode and that kind of thing, and it’s a good format for each of us to state our peace. But it’s not a particularly good format to have that back-and-forth that we generally go through, the sausage-making of coming up with good public policy.”

The public has not been able to attend council meetings and committee meetings in person since the middle of March, before the city declared a state of local emergency because of COVID-19.

And one city councillor says, why not hold meetings at the rink at the Sandman Centre?

Council had considered holding public hearings earlier this spring at the Valley First Lounge, but it’s being used by the Emergency Social Services.

Dale Bass did not get a direct answer to that question, but she went on to say that doing council meetings in the current setting is a struggle, where five out of nine council members take part by video from home.

“I find this process very frustrating, and when I want to actually consult with some of my colleagues I’m sending them messages right now. And I just don’t feel as engaged. And I’m wondering, does ESS have to be in the Lounge? Is there no other place it could be moved to?”

Councillor Dieter Dudy had the same issue.

“I do have a concern with this format. It’s growing old for me, quite frankly. Simply because of the fact that it doesn’t allow me to devote my full attention to what’s going on. I think we accommodate all of us in a safe environment where we can actually interact properly. I feel that this can be a good stop-gap measure, but it has fallen short of being effective.”

CAO David Trawin says the city talked yesterday about possibly moving the ESS, or finding another arrangement for council to hold in-person meetings.