City uses videoconferencing tool to practice social distancing during Council study session

March 19, 2020 at 11:03 am

The City of Mesa, this morning, conducted its first virtual City Council study session allowing the Mayor and City Council to participate in an official meeting from their homes or other locations in an effort to practice the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) "social distancing" recommendation.

"We felt like it was important for our City's leadership to set the example of following the CDC guidelines related to public gatherings, so we worked closely with staff to ensure that the use of technology would be both easy and effective." City Manager Chris Brady said. "Like many other organizations, we still have to conduct our day-to-day business as best we can while taking recommended precautions to minimize community spread of the COVID-19."

Councilmembers used the popular video and audio-conferencing platform, Zoom, to remotely connect into the study session. On site, in the lower council chambers where the study sessions usually take place, a limited number of staff including the City Manager, City Clerk and City Attorney along with a few presenters were able to participate.

Mr. Brady further elaborated, "Our Broadcast and Multimedia Services team was able to take the audio and video (A/V) content from Zoom and the regular A/V feeds from the chambers, integrate them, and broadcast a seamless digital meeting to our residents and other interested parties over our cable channel and mesa11.com."

In addition, a limited number of the general public were able to view the study session from the upper council chambers on a large screen where the size of the room easily facilitates social distancing for the few individuals that attended in person.

Office of Public Information & Communications
Contact: Steve Wright, Director
Tel. 480.644.2069
steven.wright@mesaaz.gov