Remote View Only For Tonight's Council Meeting

Town Council meetings accessible to public remotely only
The public will not be allowed in council chambers for tonight's town council meeting. Instead, the public will be able to view the meeting and participate remotely. This procedure by the town is to "... ensure public participation during the current period of social distancing." (source)

The public can view and listen to the meeting
The public can watch the meeting and listen to the meeting online or listen by phone. Click this link to watch and listen on line. Dial this phone number, 480-999-2896 and when prompted entering ID: 311 239 070#, to join.  The meeting starts at 6pm

Here's how the public can participate in the meeting remotely
Comments on an agenda item
You can provide comment on an agenda item if such is allowed by law, such as in a public hearing. To do so "...contact the Town Clerk at 520-229-4700 or at mstandish@orovalleyaz.gov at least thirty minutes prior to the meeting and state what agenda item they would like to speak on."

Call to audience
If you want to participate in the "Call to Audience" segment of the meeting "The comment or question must be sent via email to Bluecard@orovalleyaz.gov no later than thirty minutes before the public meeting. If the sender wants it to be read at the meeting (which may or may not occur, in part or in its entirety, as appropriate under the circumstances), comments shall be limited to no more than 500 words or three minutes as read aloud."  Note that we do not believe that you need to provide the comment or question in writing since that is not required when you attend a meeting. Simply let the town know that you will be speaking and inform them of the topic of your speech.

Remote participation is not always reliable so do be patient
The town is assuming at least two things in moving to this remote mode. One is that the technology is reliable. The other is that people will be sufficiently skilled to be able to comfortably use it.

In the past, the technology has not always been reliable.  Indeed, the last town meeting was supposed to be viewable on line, but it was not.  All we could see was a blank screen. And we have a very high speed internet connection. Most people don't.  Add to this the possibility that the system may crash if there are many viewers. We don't know if there is a backup system.

The other challenge is that most people, especially older folks, are not computer fluent. And it's older people who generally attend these meetings. Participation requires coordination of using a device for viewing and a phone for talking. Sounds simple enough. But our experience with others attempting this is that they simply don't get it right. We imagine also that there will be latency problems; that is, what you see on the screen will not synch with what you hear on the phone.

Regardless of all this.. . show up.. it's our town!
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