Why I am not 'Attending' Tonight's Ludington City Council Meeting

[XLFD]

Scheduled tonight is the first Ludington City Council meeting in four weeks.  Normally, there is a meeting every other week, but this 28 day period was actually built into the regular meeting schedule at the end of last year, not due to any influence by the spate of measures taken to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, but because March meetings were scheduled one week in advance which was coupled with one of those three week gaps that happen four times a year.  

A lot has changed since the meeting of March 16th in terms of public policy in the state of Michigan.  One of these changes is based on how local government agencies conduct public meetings during a time when they are actively advising against gatherings of people.  Governor Whitmer devised Executive Order 2020-15, which permitted such gatherings to be held remotely.  Many public bodies have used technology in order to hold virtual electronic meetings this way over the last few weeks.  Other than a test run, this will be Ludington's first try.  

The first two pages of tonight's agenda explains how this 'remote' process will work using 'Zoom'.  One has the option of using a phone (audio only) or computer/smart phone (for audio and video).  

The instructions end with a bunch of numbers and references to several large cities:

It may look a tad imposing.  If you are able to decipher the hurdles and get to this virtual meeting, I am not sure what you will see.  Ideally, it may look something like this...

 

… with a 'Brady Bunch' montage of councilors including the city manager and mayor.  This might be a little bit of fun if a couple of citizens could play a Ludington version of 'Hollywood Squares'-- Councilor Bourgette is a perfect match for George Gobel, Councilor Rozell could be a young Rose Marie, but could Mitch Foster be as witty as Paul Lynde?  

Back to the point, however, is that even if everything goes well without any kind of glitch occurring, I cannot support this kind of meeting by going to it.  For even if the meetings run as smooth or even smoother than 'normal' in-person meetings, holding meetings like this disenfranchises a significant segment of our population that could otherwise go to traditional meetings.  A segment which is sure to keep growing and growing during this job-killing, business-killing epidemic.  

Those who cannot or will not have computer or phone service. 

Under normal circumstances, these folks would still be able to attend by going to the library or a friend's house for remote access, but both of those options are unavailable and/or illegal.  They will effectively be shut out of these meetings and unable to exercise their rights guaranteed by state law, or truly, what used to be the laws of this state before martial law implicitly kicked in.

Under the governor's executive order:

1) These people are excluded from a meeting otherwise open to the public. 

2) These people are not permitted to attend these meetings in a place available to the general public. 

3) These people need to fulfill a condition precedent to attendance (having phone or internet service)

4) These people cannot address a meeting of a public body.  

None of these basic civil rights granted under sec. 3 of the OMA and others guaranteed by the state Constitution are bestowed by the governor's edicts on these members of society, even when they are among the people that should be heard most by our government.  

If Governor Whitmer can overlook these people so easily and flippantly with her executive orders, it's quite easy to see why her unilateral retooling of other public policies during this crisis (including the FOIA) are coming under fire for being inconsistent, disturbing, and inhumane.  We should not humor her arbitrary and capricious behaviors with blind compliance when we know it is wrong and socially inequitable.  Our local government is under no compulsion to, but they should take actions to make sure these populations are not neglected.

[XLFD]

Interestingly, the City's Municipal Marina Board is meeting tomorrow 'in-person' and they are doing so precisely because one or more of their board members cannot access the video features of zoom, nor does that technology allow for closed captioning.  If city residents lack tech capacity to join meetings, they are ignored; if board members lack tech capacity to join meetings, they adapt back to a meeting with social-distancing protocols.  Seems unfair to me.

[shinblind]

Interesting.  The closed caption excuse sounds like bullshit.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/207279736-Getting-Started...

Or another option would be that they could hire a closed captioning service, only $1.25/minute.

https://www.rev.com/caption?utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=283353....

[XLFD]

I went to the in-person special meeting of the Municipal Marina Board today and the closed captioning option and the price of it (a little more costly than yours, I believe it was $100/hr.) was brought up again for the prospective 'Zoomed' April 27 city council meeting.  

The full board was present today along with occasional-guest Jefferson Henry, myself, Mitch Foster and the recording secretary.  Everybody was required to wear masks and sit a distance away from each other.  Despite the muffled speaking of the board members, it was interesting hearing them discuss the marina topics in the agenda packet.  

I admire City Manager Foster's way of making this into a meeting that followed the state manager's executive orders, even if I think that was a bit of a stretch of them.  I truly appreciate that he offered the in-person variety of meeting despite the hue and cry from some.  I have done the same creative process to make myself compliant with the odd orders, by observing that my Pine Street home is my residence, the Dowland property as my 'essential' (in the energy sector) business address (for I do sell firewood to the public there) and the wooded acreage as where I get the raw materials for my essential business to operate.  I can now freely navigate between them w/o worry that I will be stopped and sent to a gulag for EO violations (not that I was worried before).  If I ever get detained for violating one of der fuhrer's irrational orders, she will be the one who needs to worry.

[Willy]

The left wants this madness to continue at least until the November election if not forever. Why not hold meetings in the high school gym there is plenty of room to spread out and be in compliance with Herr WHitler's  dictates. And much more room than the toilet paper aisle at meijer.

[AQUAMAN]

The last two days online have revealed a very strong favorable recall petition on Gov. Whitless, and it's mounting up in signatures fast. I also like your idea of the LHS gym Willy, seems to me that would easily work too right now.

[AQUAMAN]

The actual CC mtg. has been posted online now to see. Wow, it's pretty strange seeing all of them on video from their homes it looked like. And the mtg. lasted way too long imho. I wonder whom that guy was in the CMU sweatshirt too, wasn't a regular member either.