When Rescheduling a Meeting Is News

Today, on the front page of the Register-Star, there's a story about Planning Board chair Stephen Steim's decision on Tuesday to hold a workshop remotely rather than in person: "Planning board switched to Zoom for workshop."

The article reports that Steim "notified a local blogger [that's The Gossips of Rivertown]  about the change around 2 p.m. the day of the workshop." Gossips alerted readers that the meeting would be held remotely at 2:13 p.m. and published the link to the Zoom meeting at 4:02 p.m., as soon as it was available. The article goes on to say, with a slight hint of indignation, "The Register-Star, the city's sole newspaper of record, was not notified of the meeting change."

Much of the article deals with the question of whether or not the meeting was in violation of Open Meetings Law and the fact that municipalities have not been allowed to hold public meetings remotely since Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive order regarding remote meetings expired on June 24, but there is one bit of new information. According to city attorney Cheryl Roberts, "Mayor Kamal Johnson will issue a mask mandate for City Hall, regardless of vaccination status, in the hope of avoiding transmission of the delta variant and make in-person public meetings as safe as possible." So far, such a mandate has not been issued. A notice currently on the front door of City Hall advises that unvaccinated people should wear masks.

For those planning to attend the IDA public hearing next Wednesday, be advised that Hudson Hall is already requiring everyone who enters to wear a mask.

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