AVALON – Avalon Borough Council held its regular meeting July 14, this time with the option of Zoom-facilitated, live remote access.
There was no extended announcement and discussion of the new format at the meeting, nor was there reference on the homepage of the borough’s website, as of July 16.
The borough clerk’s page that provides access to agendas was also mute on the new access method, as of July 16. The statement that earlier Covid-promoted remote access options were terminated remained, leaving the reader to assume no other access was possible, stating, “the council… will be holding all regularly scheduled work sessions and regular meetings in the meeting room within Borough Hall.”
After years of requests from members of the Avalon community for video access to meetings, the borough, under the prodding of then-Council President John McCorristin, agreed to a six-month “experiment.” July 14 was the first initiation of the new access method.
The livestreaming of the meetings can be accessed on the borough’s website (https://bit.ly/3zaMTRJ). After the meeting, the video is posted to the borough’s website and YouTube for asynchronous access. As of this writing, the YouTube video has 31 views, more than the number of individuals usually attending governing body meetings.
Time will tell how many individuals avail themselves of the new access method.
