Face to Face: City Council will Return to Council Chambers for Next Meeting

City Council President Patrick Keefe said the 11-member Council will return to the Joseph A. DelGrosso Chambers at City Hall for its next meeting on July 27. The Council has been participating remotely in meetings for the past few months during the COVID-19 health crisis. “We’re working out the details and our intention is to hold our meetings in the Chambers with restrictions,” said Keefe. “It’s a good sign that’s we’ll be back at City Hall and I feel it’s a better format for our meetings to be held in our historic Chambers. And the meetings will still be broadcast live on Revere TV. ” Keefe said the Zoom remote meetings went well and the technical aspects of having the 10 other councilors participating from 10 different locations improved with each meeting. “I think we were effective in having our discussions heard and making sure that people weren’t speaking over each other,” said Keefe, whose responsibility as president is to recognize each councillor when he/she requests to speak. “Overall it went well considering we were conducting meetings for the first-time in this manner.” Keefe said there were a few attempts by residents to interrupt meetings on Zoom, including a prolonged, 30-minute stretch during the last sub-committee meeting on June 29, but he and City Clerk Ashley Melnik were able to keep “the disrupters” from voicing “vulgar language” on the Zoom broadcasts. Keefe said Melnik’s efforts were very professional and very helpful during the Zoom meetings. “There is a reason that Ashley has been granted lifetime tenure,” said Keefe. “She’s a consummate professional, she’s highly effective at her job and she supports the entire city, not just the City Council. And her whole department represents us well.”

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