The Park City Council had a different kind of meeting Thursday. Two councilmembers gathered at City Hall, while the rest joined the meeting by phone, in an effort to practice physical distancing in response to COVID-19.
Park City Mayor Andy Beerman kicked off the meeting by acknowledging the current situation is unprecedented. Beerman says the community must take this crisis seriously because it could change life in Park City for a few months.
“Serious action is our best chance to slow the spread and lessen the damage that’s going to be done, and likely it’s going to be our fastest way back to normal,” Beerman said.
Beerman noted the crisis comes in the wake of the city’s 2020 visioning efforts, where community members expressed concern over issues such as traffic, environmental sustainability and feeling included. As a result of more people working remotely to reduce spread of the virus, Beerman says there’s less vehicle traffic, a reduced carbon footprint and he feels Park City has rekindled its sense of community.
“Every time I step outside, there are people in front of their house who want to say hello," Beerman said. "They’re at the trailheads or the grocery store or the post office, and there’s moments of awkward silence as we all want to give handshakes or hugs and get close to each other and realize that’s a bad idea. But I think in some ways, I feel like our community is as tight as I've seen it.”
Audio from the meeting was streamed on the city’s website, like usual, but the city also livestreamed video on the Park City Municipal Facebook page. The video of the two-and-a-half-hour meeting has received more than 1,000 views, though that doesn’t necessarily translate to 1,000 unique viewers. City staff monitored a special email for public comment for the official record. Some community members sent comments and questions ahead of time, mostly about how the city is handling the COVID-19 outbreak.
Park City Manager Matt Dias says the city should follow Summit County’s lead and support the county health department. The city established a municipal task force for the emergency. Steve Joyce and Beerman are the only representatives from city council on the committee, which includes city staff members as well.
Beerman told council what else they should do during this emergency.
“We need to be the eyes and the ears for the city,” Beerman said. “We need to be out there, listening and communicating with the public and playing our role, but we need to stay out of the way, so the professionals can do their job.”
The city council pushed some items from Thursday’s meeting agenda to later discussion, including a work session on the proposed Quinn’s Junction park-and-ride project and the results of a survey, polling the community on whether e-bikes should be allowed on trails.
