The Town of Carrboro held its latest town council meeting Tuesday night and for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and the closure of many public spaces, town residents were able to give their input and participate in the meeting virtually.

97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle about how this virtual participation might actually be more efficient in the long run.

“We’re discovering that we really can get some business done in a virtual manner,” Lavelle said. “In some weird way it offers a little bit of accessibility to some of our public that they might not otherwise have.”

Lavelle said giving the public the opportunity to give their input virtually will provide more accessibility for people wishing to comment – as opposed to if they had to walk into the meeting in person.

“Some efficiency is gained by having meetings on Zoom rather than having, for example, several people drive their cars somewhere and the time wasted plus the greenhouse gas emissions,” Lavelle said. “So some of us are learning good techniques for in the future even after this crisis passes.”

Residents that wish to make a public comment at one of the Tuesday town council meetings will need to email or phone the town by 5 p.m. on Monday.

After that they will receive instructions about how to join the meeting virtually.

This week the council discussed the 2020 Street Resurfacing Contract Authorization and Project
Ordinance, the 2020 Annual Report on the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (SAPFO) and received a COVID-19 update from Fire Chief Dave Schmidt.

To view the Carrboro Town Council agenda and to watch the full meeting online, visit the town’s website here.

To hear Mayor Lavelle’s full conversation with Aaron Keck, head to the on-demand section and look for the Conversations with the Mayors podcast.

Note: 97.9 The Hill has been Chapel Hill and Orange County’s daily source for free local news since 1953. Please consider making a donation to continue supporting important local journalism like this.

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