NEWS RELEASE
COUNTY OF SIMCOE
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Starting June 14, county council (and committee of the whole) is moving to hybrid meetings. A hybrid approach allows for in-person attendance while maintaining public health measures, including physical distancing.
This will be a gradual transition. At this stage, as many as 50 per cent of councillors may attend in-person meetings, while the remaining councillors and staff will join meetings virtually. Each municipality can opt for either their mayor or deputy mayor to attend in-person.
During this transition back to in-person meetings, out of an abundance of caution, council chambers will remain closed to the general public; however, meetings will continue to be streamed live and archived on the county’s YouTube channel for public access at www.youtube.com/user/CountyofSimcoe. We also ask the public for your patience as we pilot a hybrid meeting and work out any technical issues that could possibly occur. This new hybrid model will be reassessed in fall 2022, with the opportunity to make further changes in line with the updated public health guidance.
“Throughout the pandemic, county council adapted to ensure the continuity of our essential services, and in line with public health guidelines, we switched to virtual sessions,” said Warden George Cornell. “Virtual meetings worked very well for the county and most municipalities, and we look forward to trialling a new hybrid approach as we continue to move forward with our governance objectives.”
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