One councillor is eager to swing open the doors of Midland's town hall.
Coun. Bill Gordon questioned David Denault, chief administrative officer, about why Midland isn't reopening town hall doors to the public, even though the Town of Penetanguishene has already done so.
"I'm just wondering if you can explain why our neighbours are back in business and why wer'e unable to swing our doors open?" asked Gordon.
It's out of an abundance of caution, said Denault, terming it caution for all the right reasons.
"We worked with all the municipalities across Simcoe and Muskoka," he said. "It's a pretty mixed bag, in terms of who is and who isn't opening their municipal offices. Some have committed to not opening this year."
When making its decision to continue to stay closed, Denault said, staff looked at what services it could continue to deliver to residents.
"We are able to provide them (to) our residents safely and effectively either through appointment or essential services that are offered day-to-day," he added.
The reason they're not yet ready to reopen town hall to the public is primarily the staff safety, Denault said.
"We want to make sure our staff can work safely, not to say other municipalities are not looking after that," he said. "We're a pretty small group here and if one person gets sick, that's a huge impact to the services we can provide to our citizens.
"That's why we're getting the right protocols in place. We're creating teams in some of our areas to continue to reinforce physical distancing," said Denault.
Gordon also wanted to know when council could return to holding its meetings in person, at its chamber rather than virtually.
"As much as I love participating remotely, but if we're sending our kids back as an experiment, it seems a little disingenuous to enjoy working remotely like this instead of meeting in council chambers," he said.
"What's the plan for resuming meetings at the council chambers? I would like to see this option continue but I'd like us to show a bit of solidarity to our kids."
Denault reminded him that council had decided at its last meeting to revisit electronic participation in October.
"The guidance we adhere to for the council chambers from the health unit has encouraged us to continue meeting remotely," he said referring to a letter by Dr. Charles Gardner, the medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU).
In his letter, Gardner states he has received queries about councils returning to meeting in-person and the need for council members to wear face coverings during such meetings.
"Given the ongoing potential for COVID-19 transmission, and the rigorous requirements that would need to be in place to hold public in-person meetings of council," he responds, "I continue to recommend that it would be preferable to continue council meetings via remote means."
In addition to this advice from Gardner, said Denault, the hybrid model presents technical challenges, solutions to which staff has yet to figure out.
"We know how difficult it is to hear in council chambers on a good day, wearing a mask would be quite challenging," he said. "To have a hybrid model would be a technical challenge and wouldn't work as well as the remote option."
Coun. Carole McGinn said she was not yet comfortable returning to council chambers for an in-person meeting.
"Coun. Gordon, I understand what you're saying (about schools) but there's a difference," she said. "For us to go out and put ourselves at risk is that we're increasing the risk circle for our kids. I'm not interested in coming to council chambers. I'm not comfortable coming out into a group whose social circle I don't know."
Deputy Mayor Mike Ross agreed with her, adding he was more comfortable waiting until October to revisit the situation.
McGinn added she would be interested in looking at hybrid model options staff could present.
"The hybrid model, if I understand correctly, is a mix of both people in the council chamber and people participating virtually," said Denault. "It's a model that's been tried at other municipalities. Some of the feedback we're getting is literally (audio) feedback.
"Can it be overcome with IT solutions? We can look at that," he added. "I would like to see us pilot it before we can go live with it. If we can get by some of those barriers, perhaps we can consider it an option."
Gordon said he was still confused since council is already meeting using a hybrid model, with Mayor Stewart Strathearn attending virtually from council chambers.
He added it didn't make sense, "that we send our kids to school but continue to work remotely ourselves."
