By PAUL SCOTT/for The Herald — While there’s a running dispute that personal attendance at a City Counsel meeting can be replaced by Zoom participation seems endless, I will say my piece.
I think Zoom is an excellent way to access if you CAN NOT attend a meeting. As a person trained in human relations, I can say with confidence that Zoom is, in no way, equal to participating in person. There’s are an abundance of unconscious clues all of us use to ‘read the room’. Neither the sender nor listener have this in Zoom. This weakens the council communication.
From personal experience, my first meeting with any City Council member has occurred immediately after council meeting. This has been with councilors that welcomed talking to the people they serve. This is critical public service.
I support the use of Zoom in a case where in-house attendance is impossible. But it should be noted as a matter of official record. Let the voters have that information and let them decide for themselves if personal attendance is important to them when choosing their representative.
He attended William Penn College, receiving a BA: Psychology/Counseling, Sociology, MIS. He now lives in Oakridge with his wife, Marty. Paul and Marty have three adult children.
George Custer lives in Oakridge with his wife Sayre. George is a former smokejumper from his hometown of Cave Junction, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. and ran a construction company in Southern California. George assumed the volunteer duties as the Editor of the Highway 58 Herald in 2022. He loves riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, building all things wood, and playing drums on the weekends in his office.
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