Five Councilmembers Return to City Hall for Meeting

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo and the Pasadena City Council during a special in person Pasadena City Council meeting, the first city council meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Pasadena City Mayor Andy Wilson during a special in person city council meeting, the first meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo during a special in person city council meeting, the first meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Empty seats fill the auditorium during a special in person Pasadena city council meeting, the first meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

A special in person Pasadena city council meeting, the first city council meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Julie Guiterrez, assistant Pasadena City Manager takes her seat for the special in person city council meeting, the first city council meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Mark Jomsky Pasadena City Clerk during a special in person city council meeting, the first city council meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo during a special in person city council meeting, the city council first meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Empty seats fill the auditorium for a special in person city council meeting, the first city council meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic, at the Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo by James Carbone)

Mayor Victor Gordo, Vice Mayor Andy Wilson and councilmembers John Kennedy, Felicia Williams and Jess Rivas returned Monday to the council chambers to deliberate for the first time since the city declared an emergency 16 months ago.

Wilson told Pasadena Now before he was looking forward to seeing my colleagues.

“Next step will be getting the public there,” Wilson said. “Hopefully the Delta variant doesn’t impact things too much. I had to find my old key card to the garage as it hasn’t been used since March 2020.”

“Good thing I have Google maps to find my way back to City Hall,” he said jokingly.

Williams and Rivas deliberated for the first time in council chambers since joining the council.

Rivas said she was excited to deliberate in chambers with her council colleagues for the first time.

“As we’ve all seen over the last year, Zoom gets the job done, but it’s just not the same as having an in person conversation,” Rivas said.

As of Monday, councilmembers can attend the meetings in person or continue to attend via zoom. Unvaccinated members are required to wear masks, while all others have the option to mask up.

Williams said it was refreshing to see her colleagues in person.

“Face to face communications are important for deliberations,” Williams said.

Councilmembers Tyron Hampton, Steve Madison and Gene Masuda participated online.

The option to attend the meetings or continue to participate via Zoom comes after a two week stint with no meetings, which resulted in a full agenda on Monday.

The council considered 14 items in its agenda calendar, a call for review on South Lake Avenue and voted to move a public hearing on the controversial Arroyo Seco Canyon Project until next week.

The last time councilmembers were allowed into the chambers was on March 15, 2020. At that meeting, only two council members appeared in the council chambers. Members of the public were allowed in council chambers which had an ample supply of hand sanitizer and chairs placed six feet apart.

The sergeant at arms wore a face mask during that 2 p.m. meeting.

Several days later, the city went into lockdown under city and state emergency orders modifying the state’s Brown Act, which governs open meetings.

Although council meetings continued via Zoom, committee and commission meetings were shuttered for several months.

Gordo later led the call for consistent city government meetings after the Planning Commission held a meeting on cannabis during the pandemic.

Although councilmembers can return to chambers, the local emergency is ongoing and it is not known when the public will be allowed to attend meetings.

“We are excited that so many Pasadena residents, schools and businesses have chosen to get vaccinated to the point we can have in-person activities such as our council meeting – this is our first in-person meeting since the pandemic began – but we emphasize the need to still be cautious as we carefully watch our numbers and if we see increases we need to be ready to adjust if needed,” Gordo said.