The Soldotna City Council met last night to discuss further suspending restrictions on council attendance by teleconference. Unlike the City of Kenai and the Kenai Borough Assembly, which met last week in person, the Soldotna City Council will meet virtually for the foreseeable future.
A public hearing was held on Ordinance 2020-031. In October, City Council unanimously approved a motion that during the COVID-19 Pandemic, when the Central Peninsula is rated in the High Risk Level, all city meetings will be conducted remotely through electronic means (Zoom, etc). In consideration of the surge in cases and the ongoing rating of High Risk Levels for the Central Peninsula, the Mayor and the City Council were advised to continue attending meetings remotely.
The Ordinance was explained by Soldotna City Clerk Shellie Saner, “Our city code currently only allows council members to attend six meetings per year from November to the end of October via teleconference or prior to videoconferencing it was teleconference. When we started trying to social distance and keep things safe, we passed an ordinance, the emergency ordinance, the original ordinance that suspended that portion of city code. We extended it by ordinance again. This would, again, extend that same lifting of those provisions through April 30th of 2021. Without that, the unexcused at six meetings becomes ‘you can’t attend’ teleconference and then it becomes an unexcused absence. Lifting these restrictions while we have in place social distancing and COVID mitigation practices would be in the council’s best interest.”
Through April 30, 2021, Soldotna Municipal Code 2.04.010(D) will be partially and temporarily suspended. The code reads that the mayor and council members may telephonically attend regular and special meetings regardless of ability to attend in-person and any such attendance shall not be considered a teleconference attendance for the purpose of the six-meeting limitation.
The ordinance passed unanimously, which means that, unless repealed, extended or modified, Soldotna City Council meetings will be held exclusively online till April 30, 2021.
