City’s Virtual Public Meetings Authorization Extended After Councilmember Appealed for ‘More Time’ to Get Kids Under 5 Vaccinated

Voting 6-1, the City Council on Monday approved a resolution which allows its members to continue holding meetings virtually through July 20.

Councilmember Felicia Williams is the councilmember who voted in the negative. Vice Mayor Andy Wilson was absent.

“We had the vaccine for over a year so the COVID concerns should not be a major concern now,” public commenter Emanuel Najera told the City Council. “I don’t know why the city is taking so long to reopen the city chamber. I personally feel it’s better when we see the members of the public in person, we have a face and a voice and not people being faceless.”

While she agreed with the public commenter on the holding of in-person meetings, Councilmember Jess Rivas, a mother of a two-year-old, appealed to the City Council to extend the remote meetings for another month to give members of the public with young kids who want to go to the council chambers “more time” to get their kids vaccinated.

“I really do want to get back to public meetings. I think it’s important for the public to be able to come in person and for us to all be together in the same room. I’m really looking forward to that.”

“But that being said, I’d like to respectfully request our colleagues to extend for just one more month and the reason for that is because the vaccine for children under five is only made available very recently.”

Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration authorized two COVID-19 vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna for children under five.

“I said in June that our goal was to have the public back in person, all of us back in person. And I still believe that that is what we should do but I hear your (Rivas) request and I’m prepared to respect that request given the circumstances,” Mayor Victor Gordo said prior to voting. “As someone who has kids, I understand your concern.”

The City Council has been meeting remotely since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, pursuant to the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order which suspended certain teleconference requirements of the Brown Act. The council must pass a resolution every 30-days to continue meeting online under the terms of Assembly Bill 361.

In the same meeting, Gordo also announced that public comments not related to the agenda will go back to the first 20 minutes of the Council meeting beginning July 11.

“Starting July 11, at our next meeting, as a means of trying to strike a balance, we will do public comments for matters not on the agenda for the first 20 minutes at the beginning of the agenda.”

Last April, the City Council decided to move the public comments for matters not on the agenda from the beginning to the last part of its meeting to allow the body to prioritize matters on the agenda and complete its business in a timely manner.

At the time the City made the decision, members of the public opposed the move with some saying this is aimed at stopping people demanding justice related to police killings from speaking out.

Most of the members of the public who speak on matters not related to the agenda on a regular basis complain about police officer-involved shootings and demand justice for the victims of police brutality including Anthony McClain.