Return to council chambers across Waterloo region does not mean virtual meetings will end

After almost two years of virtual council meetings, area municipalities are moving from video calls back to in-person debates and discussion.

But that doesn't mean they plan to completely unplug the online council experience for citizens.

Melissa Bowman of Kitchener is a self-described local politics fan who was attending meetings before COVID-19.

She observed the evolution of virtual meetings from different municipal councils that went from glitches to a "progression, to see everybody's skills develop over two years of the pandemic" as people got used to making decisions via Zoom.

"Early days, there were a lot of technical problems," Bowman said.

"A lot of, you know, 'You're on mute,' [or] 'I don't know how to get my screen to show.' Whereas now, when you watch them, those things are far more rare. People have kind of got it all sorted out."

The pandemic made councils realize online technology meant people could tune in from the comfort of their homes to watch proceedings and even sign up to speak on issues. In some cases, there were noticeable increases in viewers.

Stephen O'Brien, city clerk and general manager with the City of Guelph says the pivot from in-person to online meetings led the city to find a new way to make meetings accessible digitally.  

"One of the greatest things that we saw during the pandemic was we had a delegate attend the council meeting. I can't remember the topic, but he was walking his dog in a local park," O'Brien said.

"He was able to connect virtually while in the park, during the middle of a pandemic. He was enjoying some time to be outside, but he was still accessing democracy and making his opinions and his thoughts known to his elected officials. And so that was incredibly powerful for us."

The City of Guelph noted their online engagement numbers increased during the pandemic compared to pre-COVID:

The city notes with the numbers above that the pageviews also included other city events including virtual town hall meetings or a virtual open house.

Guelph was the first local government to start holding in-person meetings with councilors, staff and media in attendance in March. The public can start returning in April.

Moving forward, in order to keep virtual meetings, some councils will need to make technical upgrades.