Council approves resolution for flexible meeting platforms

BESSEMER — The Bessemer City Council approved a resolution to allow flexibility in meeting platforms during its first in-person meeting in over a year on Friday. The special meeting was called in order to address the issue of whether or not to meet in person in the future.

“That’s the state of Michigan for you. It kind of contradicts the COVID-19 rules. I talked to our attorney and we have to have this meeting in person in order to decide whether Monday, and future meetings, will be in person,” said City Manager Charly Loper.

Loper said the latest executive order allows for 25 people to be in attendance during a meeting. She said that it doesn’t seem that they can “necessarily” have as much control of the spread of COVID-19 during an in-person meeting and pointed out that Wakefield and Ironwood were both going back to virtual meetings.

“What Charly is saying is, that even if someone were to come in here with a temperature of 102.5, by law, we can’t ask them to leave,” said Mayor Adam Zak.

Loper said city managers from both Wakefield and Ironwood told her that the hybrid meetings — with some people attending in person and others attending online — did not go very well and that people attending virtually did not talk very much.

“It is really sad that we have to have this kind of discussion. That people can’t take personal responsibility for dealing with this,” said councilman Terry Kryshak.

Resident Charlie Tirpik expressed his distaste for the way the council has been handling meetings via Zoom. He said that there are a lot of older residents who don’t have internet and who have an interest in what is going on in there community.

“I personally think that we could still go ahead with the hybrid, because if somebody is concerned about their well being, they’ll have the option of just zooming in if they don’t feel comfortable attending the meeting in person,” said Zak.

Kryshak said the resolution just gives them the “flexibility” to switch back and forth depending on what is going on.

“If it doesn’t work, we can always switch back,” said councilman Rob Coleman. “Historically we don’t have many people that show up in person to our meetings. I would hope that people would have the common sense to stay home if they have a fever or they’re not feeling well.”

The council voted to pass the resolution and to continue with the hybrid meeting plan for Monday as scheduled with a vote of 4-1. Councilman Bill McDonald voted against both motions.