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Town receives update on in-person Council meetings

February 17, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Orangeville Council received a brief update regarding when in-person meetings may be able to resume, during a regular meeting on Monday (Feb. 14).

Mayor Brown said there was good news on Monday, with Premier Ford announcing the reopening of facilities and “relaxation of the mandatory vaccine”, so he asked Town CAO Ed Brennan where things are at with setting up a “hybrid model” in Council chambers. This would allow for in-person meetings, in addition to the current livestreams that can be viewed on YouTube, for individuals who aren’t comfortable or able to attend in-person.

Brennan said the Town is still waiting on a shipment of parts needed to create the hybrid model, noting there’s been delays.

“The announcement, as great as it was by Premier Ford and our Chief Medical Officer of Health, we still have problems with supply chains and everything else,” he explained.

“With that said though, we’re looking at sort of a workaround to be able to provide a hybrid solution at the Council chambers. We were looking at the dates that the province had announced to relax the number of people that can be in social gatherings.” 

Brennan added that Council must still remember though, the wearing of masks will be with them for a sometime in a public venue, so it is pertinent to be able to provide the option of the hybrid model before returning to in-person meetings.

“I don’t have a date specifically, but we’ll get into the March timeframe and hopefully, if all keeps going on track, we do see some normalcy here, or back to what we used to call normal, and start seeing more people gathering together in our Council chambers and other places,” said Brennan.

He said he can provide an update at Council’s next meeting to provide a more concrete update, which is slated for Feb. 28.

“Our intent as we as we get back to normal, it’s get back to as much normal as possible, and if that means that we’re able to sit down in Council chambers and Council is willing to sit in Council chambers, and feels comfortable with it, we are all for that,” Brennan noted.

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