STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of February 22, 2022
TO: Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Lori Martin, Administrative Services Director/City Clerk SUBJECT: Update on Returning to In-Person Hybrid Meetings RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive the report, discuss, and provide direction to staff. Based on the advice provided by Contra Costa Health and a poll of other cities in the County regarding hybrid meetings, staff recommends the continuation of virtual meetings until the end of March, or until further direction is provided by the County. However, staff is ready and prepared to initiate a hybrid meeting if City Council so chooses to return to in-person meetings sooner than suggested.
FISCAL IMPACT OF RECOMMENDATION:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this item.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Governor Gavin Newson signed Executive Order N-15-21 clarifying that cities may continue to meet remotely in accordance with procedures established by prior Executive Orders. On September 16, 2021, Governor Newsom signed AB361, which allows cities to continue to meet remotely during proclaimed states of emergency under modified Brown Act requirements that are similar but not identical to the rules and procedures established by the previous Executive Brown Act Orders.
This bill, until January 1, 2024, would authorize a local agency to use teleconferencing without complying with the teleconferencing requirements imposed by the Ralph M. Brown Act when a legislative body of a local agency holds a meeting during a declared state of emergency, as that term is defined, when state of local health officials have imposed or recommended measures to promote social distancing, during a proclaimed state of emergency.
DISCUSSION:
California’s statewide mask order is due to expire February 15th, therefore effective February 16th fully vaccinated people will no longer need to wear masks in most indoor settings. The counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Solano, Sonoma and the city of Berkeley also will lift universal mask requirements for vaccinated people. However, Contra Costa County Health is still recommending masks and social distancing.
Contra Costa County Health issued the below guidance regarding teleconferencing meetings on February 2, 2022. “Online meetings (i.e. teleconferencing meetings) are strongly recommended as these meetings present the lowest risk of transmission of SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This is particularly important in light of the current community prevalence rate as of February 2, 2022 which places Contra Costa County in the high community transmission tier as designated by the Centers For Disease Control, and our current trends as of February 3, 2022 in Covid-19 test positivity and COVID-19 hospitalizations which are decreasing but still near historical highs, and in light of the local detection of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the impact of which on the spread of COVID-19 has shown to dramatically increase COVID-19 transmission.” In addition, masks and social distancing are still recommended:
“A written safety protocol should be developed and followed. It is recommended that the protocol require social distancing – i.e., six feet of separation between attendees – and face masking of all attendees.” Attached hereto is a list of safety protocols recommended by Contra Costa County Health.
In addition, attached hereto is a listing of responses from Contra Costa Cities on their plans of returning to in-person meetings or remaining virtual and re-evaluating every 30 days.
One other point to note is that when the Governor lifts the Declaration of Emergency within the State of California, agencies will have to comply with the Brown Act as was done prior to the Declaration of Emergency. This makes virtual participation by Council Members more difficult, absent any legislation passing that amends the Brown Act law to integrate this process more easily. We will still be able to integrate a hybrid meeting for public participation; however, Council Members will be required to follow the Brown Act rules as it relates to teleconferencing in order to participate virtually.
Based on the information provided by Contra Costa Health and based on information provided by other cities in the County, staff recommends continuation of virtual meetings until the end of March, absent of the lifting of the Declaration of Emergency. However, staff is ready and prepared to initiate a hybrid meeting if City Council so chooses to return to in-person meetings sooner than suggested.
ATTACHMENTS:
Poll from Contra Costa Cities
Recommendations for Safely Holding Public Meetings from Contra Costa Health 12/14/21 Staff Report
9/28/21 Staff Report on AB 361