Lake Santeetlah – As more people are vaccinated – and COVID-19 case counts stay low – one community is looking at returning to in-person council meetings starting next month.
At a special meeting held Monday, the Town of Lake Santeetlah Council discussed returning to meeting in its town hall, after being completely virtual through the bulk of the pandemic.
Councilman Keith Predmore proposed a hybrid system, where members could either attend in person or attend via Zoom if they desired.
“Those who are comfortable meeting in the town hall can meet in the town hall and those who want to Zoom in can still Zoom in,” Predmore said.
He suggested using the screens at the town hall to project Zoom and to install a webcam to allow the meetings to still be broadcast and the members attending via Zoom to see the proceedings in the town hall.
Councilman Roger Carlton urged the town to ensure that all equipment for the proposed setup worked properly prior to the meeting.
“We need to make sure that this is in place and tested,” Carlton said.
Town adminstrator Kim Matheson also said the town needed to consider new audio equipment prior to the meeting.
“You probably need to do something about the sound too, especially if everybody’s going to be wearing a mask,” she said.
Despite the fact that members of the board would be meeting at a physical location, attorney Craig Justus said that legally it would still be considered a virtual meeting, according to North Carolina state statute.
He said in the state’s eyes, no hybrid meetings exist and the law only distinguished between in-person and remote meetings.
“To the extent that all the council members are not present, it’s still a remote meeting,” Justus said.
The board also voted 4-0 – with councilman Kevin Haag absent – to appoint all planning board members to a 3-year term. The Town of Lake Santeetlah’s planning board is comprised of Glen Barnett, Tonya Capling, Beth Carlton, Anne Hager and Craig Keith.