County IT Director Mike March is making the rounds to municipalities, to get them thinking about how they can move council meetings back to their chambers.
With social distancing a reality, when council is ready to return to the table, they must still accommodate public access to the meetings.
Minden Hills mayor Brent Devolin says “some members feel this was where the township should go anyway, to allow more of the public to participate and view regular council meetings, as well as township committee meetings.
Minden Councillors Bob Carter and Jennifer Hughey felt that social distancing is here for a long time and an unbudgeted investment in equipment could wait for a couple of months.
It was also pointed out that technical issues experienced by some councillors and the public, is an impediment to participating in the electronic meetings.
If testing bears out in County chambers, the majority of council in Minden Hills agreed to proceed with the purchase of a video camera, software and microphone system with a cost between $10,000 and $15,000.
Beta testing will be done at the County’s July 22 meeting.