The days of city council Zoom meetings appear over

By Charles Sercombe
There’s one thing that many folks liked about the Covid pandemic.
It opened city council meetings up to those quarantining at home, which was basically all of us.
For those interested in city government, you could watch a city council meeting at home and participate in it via Zoom.
That was also true for other public bodies’ meetings besides local council meetings.
In Hamtramck that all went away when the state mandated that local governments – and school boards – must go back to meeting in-person.
So, gone were the days when one could watch those meetings, and then be able to speak during public comment, all from the comfort of your home.
Both Hamtramck’s city council and school board dropped that option as soon as in-person meetings resumed, although you can still catch those meetings on links to YouTube.
While you can still yell at your screen during the meetings, if so inclined, your voice won’t be heard.
City Councilmember Adam Albarmaki wants to change that for city council meetings.
He wants the public to have the option to talk during public comment, from their home or wherever.
His fellow councilmembers, though, are not in agreement, except for Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury.
Choudhury said that with Covid still spreading, “Folks are not ready to come out.”
Councilmember Albarmaki said that the council is here “to represent the residents.” He also said it’s about “transparency.”
But there was some pushback. Both Councilmembers Amanda Jaczkowski and Mohammad Hassan are concerned that bringing back Zoom’s ability to allow the public to speak from remote places will result in late-running council meetings, which did indeed sometimes go until 1 a.m.
That was something that did occasionally happen when there were hot-button issues, which sometimes encouraged people from outside the city to comment.
Often, speakers would end up repeating what others had previously said.
Jaczkowski proposed postponing a vote on the proposal to allow a council sub-committee to review it, along with other council rules and procedures likewise being reviewed.
That sub-committee, of which Jaczkowski is a part, presented its report at Tuesday’s regular council meeting.
But guess what?
The recommendations presented did not mention anything about reinstating Zoom meetings.
According to sources, the ability for the public to address the council from remote places has been solved, by allowing email comments to be submitted on the day of the meetings (as long as they arrive by no later than 4 p.m.) and then read into the record during the council’s two public comment periods.
And, speaking of the public comment sections of the city council meetings, the council agreed to extend the first portion of public comment.
Each speaker will now get to speak for up to three minutes – instead of just two – and then request an additional minute if needed.
The first public comment section will allow the public to speak on any issue, and the second comment section will be limited to council agenda items only. That time limit per speaker is still set at two minutes, with an additional minute given upon request.
There has been no word on whether the Hamtramck Public School Board will bring back Zoom-based public participation. Those monthly board meetings are also broadcast on YouTube.
Posted Feb. 25, 2022