Beaufort County Council meetings will be in person. But are buildings open yet?
After months of meeting virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, Beaufort County Council will hold its meetings in person this month starting Monday, two council members and Acting Administrator Eric Greenway confirmed Friday.
The meetings will be in person through November and December, and then the county will decide whether to continue next year, Greenway said.
“We’ll see how it goes,” he said.
The county has not yet said when it plans to reopen government buildings to the public. Greenway said a reopening plan could be announced Monday.
Council members expected to discuss the hiring process for their new interim administrator in closed session on Monday, according to the agenda for Monday’s caucus meeting.
Council Chair Joe Passiment did not return a call for comment Friday.
All local governments in Beaufort County have been holding meetings virtually in some capacity — allowing residents to remotely watch their elected leaders during the pandemic. However, the virtual meetings have been criticized by some for not providing adequate space for public comment.
The county’s governing body has met virtually through the streaming service Cisco Webex since late March. At the start of the pandemic, the virtual meetings, streamed live on The County Channel and on Facebook, were fraught with technical problems, inaudible mics and a dwindling viewership.
In recent weeks, the meetings have seen a substantial increase in Facebook comments — the large majority of which criticized the council for its behind-the-scenes handling of its former administrator’s forced resignation and a now-defunct, non-emergency face mask ordinance that did not have a prescribed ending date.
That criticism was compounded last week when the council abruptly canceled plans to stream meetings on Facebook just minutes before the meeting started.
Last week, Passiment told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that the council would no longer stream meetings on Facebook due to “derogatory” comments made about council members and staff.
Now, the body appears to be moving toward full, in-person meetings. However, county government buildings remain closed to the public during normal business hours.
The county’s calendar shows that the meeting will be held with limited capacity.
The calendar event states that no more than 22 people will be allowed in the council chambers at one time, and all people attending are required to wear a face mask.
The pews in the council chambers were removed this week and replaced with 22 removable chairs to allow for social distancing, Greenway said. There will also be plexiglass dividers placed between each council member.
Monday’s caucus meeting starts at 5 p.m. with the full council meeting directly after at 6 p.m.
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 4:52 AM.
