The Council Chamber at Merritt’s City Hall is normally the centre of all meetings in the City. The current chamber has hosted Council and Committee meetings since it was built nearly 30 years ago. Council meetings have been broadcast , first by cable TV, and for the last decade over the internet, to enable all residents to keep abreast of what Council is discussing and doing, regardless of their ability to attend in-person.
Starting in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced meetings online, by preventing anyone gathering together safely. Everyone was able to watch those meetings, and the recordings remain available on the City’s website. As soon as it was possible and allowed, Merritt City Council returned to in-person meetings, and continued broadcasts of these to ensure everyone could watch. In 2021, we upgraded the broadcast system to add new camera angles, and the ability to play videos, have presenters dial-in remotely, and display paperwork, images, and maps to viewers on-screen.
Under BC Government restrictions currently in place (as of December 2021), the room capacity of the Chamber is 20, which includes the 7 elected members, staff necessary to run the meeting, external presenters, and any public and journalists watching. In addition, anyone attending the meeting must present a Covid-19 vaccination passport to be allowed entry.
There is a great deal of confusion about the meaning of a “Closed meeting”. This refers to a meeting where the public may not watch, or know what happened, because it would harm the City. This is used for example when discussing labour relations issues, or legal concerns. If a meeting is closed to the public, Council must first cite the specific reason under the Community Charter that the meeting is being closed (these grounds are found in section 90), and must then vote to go into closed session.
A meeting where the public can watch what is happening, view a recording, and provide input on events is, by definition, not a closed meeting, whether or not the public are watching through a screen or in-person.
On Sunday November 14th, 2021, the Council Chamber of the City of Merritt was turned into an Emergency Operations Centre to respond to the catastrophic floods. It was from this room that the State of Local Emergency was declared, Evacuation Orders were signed, and the City, Police, Fire, Search and Rescue, and others met to co-ordinate the response to the unprecedented situation. This room was then used for two weeks to plan the repairs to critical infrastructure, and Return Home plan, with additional personnel helping from City of Kamloops, Thompson-Nicola Regional District, Central Okanagan Regional District, City of Kelowna, City of West Kelowna, and more. Following this period, the Emergency Operations Centre was lifted out and transferred to Merritt Civic Centre, where it remains.
The Council Chamber IT infrastructure was completely gutted, cannibalized, and rebuilt on two occasions, with countless minor alterations in that time. The ten year old installation of sound system and video recording was entirely disassembled, and partially removed, to aid in the emergency response, both providing more physical space, and as a source of vital parts. If the original installation work had been documented, those documents no longer survive in City records.
Some residents are asking why the Council meeting on Tuesday December 7th is online, and claiming that it is a “closed virtual meeting”. The meeting is not closed; we have provided instructions how anybody can watch it, either live or afterwards. We have provided instructions how to provide public input. We have identified when and where the agenda will be published, and everybody can read the paperwork.
If the meeting were held in-person, we could not broadcast the meeting online, as the infrastructure does not exist at this time. Holding the meeting in-person would mean limiting attendance to a very small number of people who could be in the room, and would prevent anybody else from watching. This Council meeting will be dealing with a variety of important issues to many in the community and it is our duty to allow the widest cross section of the community to be able to interact with Council during this journey of recovery.
We hope to have the Chamber sufficiently rebuilt by December 14th, 2021 to allow in-person attendance within the Government’s Covid-19 restrictions. As always, that meeting will be broadcast, and available for anyone to watch, anywhere, anytime, at www.merritt.ca/watchmeetings.