Correction: An earlier version of this story stated an incorrect timeline for the closure. The Laguna Beach City Council will revisit the issue on July 28.
The public won’t be able to speak in the Laguna Beach City Council Chambers until August after a majority of councilmembers axed a proposal that would have allowed community members to voice their comments on Zoom or in-person.
The City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday, with Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow and Councilmember Toni Iseman voting no, to keep Zoom as the only way for residents to verbally express themselves during council meetings. At Dicterow and Iseman’s request, Assistant City Manager Shohreh Dupuis proposed a hybrid format where the public could either share public comments via Zoom or stand in line to speak at a microphone in the Council Chambers and then exit the building.
Mayor Bob Whalen said he’s willing to revisit the idea of allowing in-person on July 28.
“What’s to be gained by going down there and speaking—I mean Steve will be there I think—but what’s to be gained if the other council people are on Zoom,” Whalen said.
Whalen added that he does not plan to attend council meetings for the immediate future because of safety concerns posed by the coronavirus.
Councilmember Peter Blake was even more resolute in assisting that council meetings continue to run on Zoom.
“I have zero intention of coming back to the dais until we can go to the dais and feel safe and I don’t have to wear a mask,” Blake said.
Dupuis noted participation in the Zoom meetings has tripled since Laguna Beach first used the videoconferencing service in April, according to a staff report. During the April 7 council meeting, 135 callers participated in the call. Last month, 358 and 317 participants respectively called into the May 12 and May 26 council meetings.
Iseman pointed out that city staff may be unaware of individuals who don’t feel comfortable using Zoom, can’t navigate the system, or don’t have the technology and would like to participate.
“To assume that everybody who wants to Zoom or wants to participate is able to is assuming that everybody can Zoom successfully,” she said.
City Manager John Pietig said after state stay-at-home order hit in March that city staff would delay controversial topics expected to earn a lot of public comment. Following the city’s subsequent implementation of Zoom, Pietig took the position that was necessary for city business to continue even though state directives prohibit mass gatherings indoors.
David Raber, co-founder of Laguna Residents First, said he was disappointed with the council majority’s decision to not allow in-person comments in conjunction with Zoom participants.
“It seems like we could figure out away to be together in the participative democracy that the California constitution has for local governments,” Raber said. “The principle is that the residents have a say in what goes on and I think most residents feel the need to interact, to look at the city council and have them look at the participants.”
Johanna Felder, president of Village Laguna, wrote in an email that her organization is sympathetic to the councilmembers’ concern that it’s unsafe to sit in a room for five hours, even when social distancing and wearing masks.
“Without Councilmembers in attendance, the hybrid option would be fruitless,” Felder wrote. “When the City Council went to Zoom meetings the residents were told that the council would not be scheduling issues that would draw large crowds and we expect them to make every attempt to honor that.”
