When will Spokane face-to-face town and county assemblies be held again?

Current regulations offer a potential avenue for Spokane City Council and Spokane County’s Board of Commissioners to hold some face-to-face meetings, but it remains tight and unlikely.

At the suggestion of Councilor Michael Cathcart, the council was reviewing its options for holding “hybrid” face-to-face and remote public meetings after Spokane entered Phase 2 of Governor Jay Inslee’s reopening plan.

Under current regulations, city attorney Mike Piccolo said the city council could include a personal component in its meetings, but must still provide remote access.

To attend in person, the council would need to adhere to the governor’s guidelines for business meetings, which include requirements such as a capacity limit of 25% or 200 people, whichever is less.

Masks and social distancing would be mandatory, as would strict cleaning requirements.

“I’m definitely fine the way we are. I would just love to see a plan or a goal to come back to this meeting in person at a later date,” said Cathcart.

Council Chairman Breean Beggs agreed that there was community interest in the issue but suggested that the council continue its virtual-only sessions until Spokane moves into the next phase of reopening.

“There are some manpower costs for cleaning and there are likely to be personnel / security costs for trying to deal with a setup outside of town hall to get people in and out,” Beggs said.

District leaders have also investigated the hosting of face-to-face meetings and have encountered similar problems.

“In addition to concerns about 25% capacity, some other technological capability issues were addressed in our larger county spaces, such as the public hearing room,” county spokesman Jared Webley wrote in an email to The Spokesman Review, adding that he is working with county staff to resolve the issues.

The city council reviewed meetings that some of its members attend in council chambers while the rest continue to attend remotely via video.

But it can’t offer council members a personal option without also inviting the public, Piccolo said, citing the advice of the Seattle-based nonprofit urban research and service center.

City staff and councilors would not count towards the capacity of the room, Piccolo said, but they would have to stay at least 6 feet apart. This is in line with instructions from Governor Jay Inslee’s office, which excludes employees from business meeting occupancy calculations. A previous Inslee proclamation set the same rules for government meetings as for business meetings.

However, if the number of people wishing to attend the meeting in person exceeded the limited capacity of the council chambers, even by a single person, the council would be legally obliged to abandon the meeting, Beggs said.

Piccolo explained that the council could put in place a system that would allow attendees to queue outside of the chambers and wait for their turn to speak.

“But if everyone wanted to be there for a specific topic and you are not able, you have the right to be there. You need to adjourn the meeting and find a bigger place, ”Piccolo said.

Currently, the Council Chairman is the only member of the Council Chambers in meetings held digitally on WebEx and broadcast to the public on CityCable 5.

Despite the personal restrictions, public access to city council meetings during the pandemic has expanded in recent months, including the reinstatement of the open forum.