The St. Joseph City Commission will be the latest area governmental body to move its meetings to the virtual world on Monday night. The commission canceled its last regular meeting on March 30 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but City Manager John Hodgson says they will be ready to hold the meeting as a Zoom webinar. Doing so, as many other local governments around the country have started to do, will allow for public input. People can watch the meeting using a smartphone or their computer, or if they do not have either of those, there will be a call-in number for them to use their phone. The meeting will start at 6 p.m., and instructions on how to watch, log-in, and take part are as such:
Electronic Meeting Notice for the City Commission of the City of St. Joseph Monday, April 13, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. In accordance with the Governor’s Executive Order 2020-42 commonly referred to as “Stay Home, Stay Safe” .the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendations designed to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the Governor’s Executive Order 2020-15 declaring that public bodies subject to the Open Meetings Act can use electronic conferencing technology to meet and conduct business, the St. Joseph City Commission will hold its regularly scheduled City Commission meeting on Monday, April 13, 2020 beginning at 6:00 p.m. remotely by means of electronic conferencing. There will be no physical meeting location, all persons attending the meeting must do so remotely through electronic means. Members of the public wishing to participate in the meeting through electronic means will have access to the meeting through the following methods:
Join the meeting by:
–Navigating to https://zoom.us/join from your computer, tablet or smartphone, or;
–Calling 312.626.6799 or 877 853 5247 (Toll Free) from a telephone.
Use the following information:
Meeting ID: 886 087 242 Password: 903770 Members of the public wishing to attend may connect or call in before the meeting starts and wait in a “virtual waiting room” until the meeting is ready to begin. Audience members will be able to hear the meeting and will be able to see video shared by Commissioners or staff or presentations if their means of connection allow. Audience members will have their microphones muted when they enter the meeting and will not be able to share images. Public comments will be taken, as at every public meeting. Due to the remote meeting format, the following procedures will be used to facilitate public comment during the meeting:
• All public comment for items not on the agenda will be taken at the Public Comment section of the Agenda, located near the beginning of the meeting. Public comments related to specific agenda items will be taken when the Mayor calls for public comment during the discussion of each item.
• Computer/tablet/smartphone audience: To indicate you wish to make a public comment, utilize the “Raise Hand” function by selecting “Manage Participants” on the bottom of your
dashboard then select the “More” button in the bottom right-hand corner. The moderator will call your name aloud and unmute your connection so that you can comment. After your comment, your connection will again be muted.
• Phone-in audience: To make a public comment, push *9, which will be visible to the moderator in the same way as “Raise Hand” for participants using other devices. You will be placed in the queue for Public Comment. The moderator will announce the last two digits of your phone number for recognition (more digits if needed to distinguish between attendees with similar phone numbers) and unmute you so that you can speak. After you speak, your connection will again be muted.
• Please keep public comments concise. If you would like to contact City Commission about any matter, on the agenda or otherwise, please do so via email to city.commission@sjcity.com prior to the meeting:
Telecommunications relay services to assist individuals with disabilities are available by calling 7-1-1 and providing the meeting information to the relay operator; there is no charge to the caller. Video instructions are also available at https://zooom.us/resources
