NORTH BATTLEFORD ‑ A date has been set for city council meetings in North Battleford to move permanently to their new space in the Don Ross Centre.
At their latest council meeting held on the Zoom platform Monday, council approved a hybrid model for meetings beginning with the April 11 date.
It means that meetings will move to Don Ross Centre Room 107, which has been converted into a permanent council chamber. The hybrid model will allow the flexibility for some participants to attend the meeting live while others will participate virtually over the Zoom platform.
Council had previously used a hybrid model during the period of time when meetings were held at the Chapel Gallery during the pandemic. Over the past several months, the meetings have been held solely over Zoom.
The permanent move to Don Ross Centre had long been planned, as the city had been seeking a more accessible council chamber than the existing space at City Hall.
The holdup had been in setting up the technological and multimedia requirements to hold meetings there. Most of the parts were not due to arrive until late April or early May, but council had asked if there was still a way to hold the meetings there with the more limited tech resources available.
At council Monday, City Manager Randy Patrick reported those issues have been worked out.
Patrick said they had done a test run of a portion of the leadership team meeting to see how it worked. According to Patrick, there should be enough bandwidth to allow each council member to use computers to act as cameras.
Patrick said there may be issues with sound volume but the speakers in the room should be “fairly reasonable.”
Patrick said he will be the only staff member there live, with other members of administration attending remotely. Also, there is room for the public to attend.
Council unanimously approved the move to Don Ross Centre for hybrid meetings on Monday.
