each year fewer and fewer people attend for getmsn beer and food
the beer garden is open but teamsters local 707 members are nowhere to be found
Oyster Bay has first in-person town board meeting since shutdown
A member of the public takes a seat during the July 14 Oyster Bay Town Board meeting. Credit: Screenshot of Oyster Bay Town Board meeting video
Shellfisherman Douglas Rodgers stood in Oyster Bay’s town hall last week to ask the town board to delay its request for proposals to license shellfishing rights in the harbor. His address to the board was the first during the public comment period in Oyster Bay since March when the town — and municipalities across the state — stopped holding in-person meetings in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The supervisor and the town board members felt the time had come with the proper safety protocols in place that we could welcome the public back in a safe manner to town hall,” Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Nevin said in an interview last week.
Residents were required to wear face coverings, maintain social distancing, and the town limited the number of people allowed in the hearing room to 35, according to a meeting notice.
In March, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo suspended a requirement under state open meetings law that the public be allowed in-person to attend public meetings so long as the meetings could be watched or heard and that they be recorded and transcribed. That suspension now runs through Aug. 5.
Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said the governor’s order did not prohibit in-person municipal meetings nor did limits on the size of other public gatherings come into effect.
“Government is deemed essential so crowd size does not technically apply,” Azzopardi said. “We’ve asked governments to be mindful of all the [safety] guidelines” such as wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer and maintaining social distancing, he said.
Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino wore a mask during last week's meeting, but other elected officials removed theirs.
Municipalities have taken different approaches to allowing public participation during virtual meetings since March.
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