Traverse City sticks to virtual meetings
Apr. 9—TRAVERSE CITY — Virtual meetings for Traverse City's government and its various appointed boards aren't going away any time soon.
Commissioners unanimously agreed to extend an emergency declaration through July so they and other boards can keep meeting online. Mayor Jim Carruthers said the extension would hopefully be long enough for 75 percent of the U.S. to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — a milestone for reaching herd immunity, according to White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.
They'll revisit the declaration toward the end of May, though, to see if COVID-19 vaccination rates and other pandemic conditions have improved enough to start meeting in person.
City manager Marty Colburn told commissioners about a upward surge in COVID-19 cases and pointed to the Grand Traverse County Health Department's directive for middle- and high-schoolers to return to virtual learning until April 12. He recommended extending virtual meetings.
Commissioner Christie Minervini ultimately supported the move but initially said she didn't back the idea of extending the emergency through July. Even if that declaration could be rescinded, she doubted it would be, she said.
Meeting virtually has a negative impact on commission deliberations, Minervini said. She suggested a hybrid meeting so those who have been fully vaccinated can attend in person while those who didn't feel safe could continue calling in.
Plus, if teachers and students are able to resume in-person learning — the current week notwithstanding, she acknowledged — then it seemed reasonable for city commissioners and staff to meet in person again as most had earlier opportunities to get vaccinated, Minervini said.
Commissioner Brian McGillivary said a hybrid model could be unfair for people who have no way of knowing whether members of the public are vaccinated or not and if it's safe for them to attend.
Commissioner Ashlea Walter rejected a hybrid approach as well, saying she thought it a "very confusing and disenfranchising" option for people already struggling to connect to city meetings.
City resident Ann Rogers told commissioners earlier that dialing in to comment can be complicated, and the city cut its public option meetings to twice instead of allowing it after each agenda item. She said as much as part of comments over concerns that development and leaders in Traverse City were turning it over to part-time residents.
McGillivary agreed the city should return to in-person meetings once vaccination rates reach a certain point so people can attend and talk about controversial items.
"If the rates drop and things go down and vaccines continue to go up in this community, this county's done very well, when we get to that point I believe we should certainly— again, anyone can bring it back up for a vote of the commission to start meeting in person, and I think that's what we'll need to do... we can get recommendations from staff and the health department," he said.
But McGillivary didn't see the need to revisit the issue time and again until there's a sign that in-person meetings are safe, he said.
The issue goes beyond city commissioners, who may have been vaccinated, to members of other boards who might not have it yet, Mayor Pro Tem Amy Shamroe said. The city needs to be consistent rather than having some boards meet in person and others, virtually.
She asked staff to fill in commissioners at the last meeting in May on vaccination rates among the county and city staff.
Minervini agreed a hybrid option would hardly be ideal, and favored finding out more in May.
"I don't want to harp on this, but July 31 is four months away," she said. "We've made a lot of progress in the last two months so I'm very hopeful that we can get back in person, and I'll leave it at that."
City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht told commissioners that by law, the city can't require its employees to divulge their vaccination status.
When city commissioners meet in person again, it'll be the first time they do since March 23, 2020. That's when they switched to the virtual format after state Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's emergency order made some exceptions to the Open Meetings Act.
An Oct. 2, 2020, state Supreme Court ruling struck down the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act underpinning those orders as an unlawful delegation of legislative powers, rendering the orders moot.
State lawmakers later tweaked the Open Meetings Act to allow local governments to meet online after declaring emergencies. A Dec. 7, 2020, declaration for Traverse City would have expired at the end of April.