The Winston-Salem City Council is transitioning its meetings online due to the coronavirus outbreak.
It's been over a month since the council last met.
City staffers used that time to figure out how to hold meetings while still complying with stay-at-home orders. They landed on video-conferencing.
Assistant City Manager Damon Duquenne says they did run into a few hiccups during a recent dry run.
“How will the mayor know when a council member wants to speak? How are we going to vote?" he said. "We're going to use the roll call method of voting so that each council member is identified and cast their vote and it's clear who voted no. Things like that.”
City staffers are still working out how to include public comment in these virtual meetings. Monday's meeting doesn't include a public comment period, but the April 20 meeting does. Duquenne says they'll spend the next few weeks observing other municipalities to determine solutions.
The meetings will still be streamed online and televised via WSTV.