Despite the expiration of a state mandate in June that required open public meetings to be held virtually, the city of Langley may decide to continue teleconferenced meetings.
During a meeting Monday night, members of the Langley City Council shared their discomfort with current state COVID-19 transmission levels, with one member announcing that he had contracted the virus himself recently despite being vaccinated.
“I’m really starting to get concerned, the more people that I know who are being impacted who have done everything right,” Councilmember Thomas Gill said.
He pointed out that King County, where many visitors to Langley hail from, has a tourism link with Island County. He requested that Langley’s downtown businesses require masks.
Councilmember Harolynne Bobis, who lives in Langley Village, said she watches visitors traipse through on the weekends, a good 98% unmasked.
The council’s attention turned to the next council meeting, which is scheduled for Aug. 1 and is planned to be a hybrid meeting, with a place for the council and the public to meet in-person at Langley City Hall or the option to Zoom in from their computers at home.
Gill said he would like to request that any meetings on site require masking and social distancing. He added that with the hybrid meetings in place, he doesn’t plan on showing up to city hall for the foreseeable future.
Councilmember Craig Cyr said he would favor continuing the virtual meetings through August.
As Mayor Scott Chaplin pointed out, the next council meeting could have increased in-person public participation if the Coles Valley development is an item on the agenda.
The mayor said he discussed it with the city attorney, and Langley is within its rights to have an emergency extension of the virtual-only meetings based on the spread of COVID-19 and staff shortages.
At the close of the council’s discussion, Chaplin said that he would conduct more research before making a decision about whether or not to go fully virtual with the next council meeting.
When asked Thursday by the South Whidbey Record if he had made a decision yet, Chaplin said the plan was to resume in-person meetings Aug. 1 but his recent COVID-19 diagnosis might cause the topic to be revisited.
