Winona City Council Mulls Procedures as Meetings Return to In-Person Form

Winona City Council informational session. 6-23-21

WINONA, Minn. (KWNO)-When the Winona City Council holds their next meeting on July 6 it will feature all council members in the same room for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.  

Before Monday’s meeting go started, City Manager Steve Sarvi asked for the council’s input on how much the city should incorporate zoom for public comment portions. Sarvi said the mix of in-person and virtual elements of the meetings creates staffing issues for the city because a staff member is needed to monitor the meeting’s online elements.  

The state of emergency declaration is scheduled to end on July 1, meaning city procedures would return to pre-pandemic status.

“I’m strongly in a return to as much normality as possible because it’s something that we’ve lacked over this last year and a half,” At-Large Councilwoman Michelle Alexander said. “We’ve become separate from each other, we’ve lost that contact, we’ve lost that neighbor connection and the further we remove ourselves from those people the less they become real people to us.”  

Alexander says residents have numerous ways of contacting their council members and that people should make attending a meeting a priority if they have something they wish to express to the council.  

Second Ward Councilwoman Moeller called for virtual offerings for public hearing portions of council meetings. She says some citizens face mobility and autoimmune issues that may prevent them from commenting in person at council meetings.   

I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to say it’s easy for people to come in and I think it’s not appropriate for us to say that if someone can’t get here then their opinion is not valid,” said Moeller.  

Moeller points out people who’ve testified virtually are still required to list their name and address to speak during a council meeting.