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Palatka City Hall
The Palatka City Commission will have its regularly scheduled meeting this week, but it won’t be at its usual location of City Hall.
Thursday’s 6 p.m. meeting will take place on Zoom, an online program that allows people to participate in remote conference calls.
“Even though there is a crisis going on, we’re still working on everyday operations,” City Manager Bill Shanahan said. “We’re all in this together.”
According to Shanahan, commissioners plan to broadcast the meeting live on the city’s Facebook page. He said the live stream will ensure Palatka residents are engaged and able to interact with commissioners.
“They’re part of the community,” Shanahan said. “We spend citizens’ money and want them to know that we’re not wasting it or doing anything that we shouldn’t be doing with it.”
Shanahan said city officials have been using Zoom since last week to minimize any technical errors that may occur during Thursday’s meeting. He said they will continue to practice using the program throughout the week.
Shanahan said the city commission chose to use Zoom due to its free video capabilities. He said the city may continue to use the program after the coronavirus pandemic is over.
“We looked at all of our needs that we have, and Zoom meets all of those needs,” Shanahan said. “This service will let the elected officials conduct business from their home and help us do social distancing.”
Mary Lawson Brown has served as a city commissioner for 35 years, and she said she has never seen a situation where public officials have had to conduct meetings online.
“I’m on other boards and we’re doing (virtual meetings),” Brown said. “I imagine city business has to go on. I prefer meeting with people face to face, but we’re going to have to do it this way to get things done. It’s just a sign of the times.”
The city commission isn’t the only group in Palatka hosting a virtual meeting this week.
Some of the Putnam County School District board members attended their meeting Tuesday using Google Meet. School board members took public comments via email and in person at the school district headquarters, 200 Reid St. in Palatka.
Shanahan said Tuesday that the city was still figuring out how it was going to address public comments.
However, he said there will be no in-person inquiries during the meeting. He said none of the city commissioners will be at City Hall, 201 N. Second St.
All city-owned buildings were closed to the public March 23 and will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order that went into effect April first and won’t be lifted until at least May 1.
“The goal is to keep everyone away from groups,” Shanahan said. “This way, we can follow the governor’s order and do social distancing,” Shanahan said.
For more information on how to access the city commission meeting, call 329-0100.