Why this matters
State law requires public agencies to allow citizens to participate in meetings, but the COVID-19 pandemic upended in-person rules. Now that the pandemic is over, agencies are addressing how to handle virtual participation.
National City officials last week shot down a proposal to eliminate people’s ability to participate virtually during live public meetings, raising concerns over potentially limiting accessibility.
The City Clerk’s Office proposed an amendment to the council’s policy that would have removed the option of giving public testimony via Zoom, a video teleconferencing product the city began using during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Staff sought to follow a trend of other cities that have removed the option to participate virtually after Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the state of emergency caused by the pandemic. National City’s proposal aimed “to provide greater efficiencies” during council meetings, according to a staff report.
Several residents and community members — most of them who called in via Zoom that night — called for the city to reject the portion of the amendment that would have eliminated virtual public comment.
Councilmember Jose Rodriguez, along with his peers who voted unanimously against the removal, sided with commenters.
“I do think there’s room for discussion there, but I do think it’s important to allow the public to be as accessible as possible to them,” he said.
Councilmembers floated ideas to speed up council meetings, such as reducing public commenting times and scheduling commenters who speak on non-agenda items toward the end of the meetings. The council did not make an official vote on those ideas last week.
While the council agreed to keep Zoom comments from the public, it split other parts of the amendment into different votes. That encompassed tightening deadlines to register as a Zoom caller and submit written comments, and keeping Spanish translation services during council meetings as is but seeking improvements in the future.
Anyone who wants to speak virtually during a council meeting must now register on the city’s website no later than two hours before the meeting. Written public comments must now be submitted no later than four hours before the meeting. Mayor Ron Morrison said making these adjustments will give more time in advance to help councilmembers better manage their time during meetings.
Rodriguez also requested that staff in March present the financial cost of providing better services for Spanish-speaking attendees that could help address concerns that each employed translator yielded a slightly different translation for meetings.
The city has two translators only for Zoom and a third, in-person position that is vacant.
This brief came from reporting by Carlos Moyeda, a San Diego Documenter, at a City Council of National City meeting this month. The Documenters program trains and pays community members to document what happens at public meetings. It’s run by inewsource, a nonpartisan nonprofit newsroom dedicated to investigative and accountability journalism. Read more about the program here.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
