After years of in-person meetings in the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, Evanston’s city government is now just a few clicks away for residents.

Since the pandemic started, businesses, schools and social events have had to adapt to using Zoom as the primary form of communication. Even government meetings have had to change their process, and now City Council and other board meetings are completely virtual. As a result, residents have had to adapt to new technology and must now make public comments from their own homes.

Despite the change in format, there hasn’t been a noticeable difference in the number of residents speaking at public comment. Some meetings may see limited resident attendance, like the August 10 meeting, which only drew two resident comments, but others during which hot-button issues were discussed have had 30 or more people signed up to comment.

In fact, the switch to Zoom meetings may actually be advantageous for residents, Ald. Thomas Suffredin (6th) said.

“The public comment still has the same people who’ve made in-person public comments,”
Suffredin said. “I think if anything, it probably encourages participation from others that would not necessarily want to go to the civic center and sit through a meeting.”

However, public comment isn’t the only way that residents are able to take a stance during Council meetings. Suffredin said the visualization of widespread support for an issue has become difficult over Zoom. In the past, when important issues are discussed, people would show up in large crowds with signs in order to get the attention of aldermen and convey their support or opposition.

With everything on Zoom, the number of people in a meeting comes off as less impactful, which many residents have noticed, Suffredin said.

While participation may be an issue for virtual Council meetings, Ward meetings have had a much smoother transition to an online format. Suffredin said his ward has no city facility to host meetings at, and in the past he has held them at the Three Crowns Park retirement community. Now, these meetings can be put together with ease.

Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd) said she had 85 residents at her July town hall meeting when she was expecting only 50. Many people commented in the Zoom chat that normally they would not have been able to attend the meeting, but were able to come because it was online, she said.

“A couple of people were intrigued and said, ‘Maybe you should do this all the time,’” Wynne said.

The city plans to resume in-person functions as normal once it is safe, but Wynne said a future where Zoom is incorporated into these meetings might be plausible. People who are traveling or cannot make it to meetings can now share their thoughts, and many residents have asked for a possible hybrid meeting method after COVID-19, she said.

However, some residents, like Bob Froetscher
, have not found the new online meetings to be any easier. Froetscher, who has been to two Planning and Development Committee meetings and one Council meeting since switching to Zoom, said the meetings can be just as tedious.

“If the topic that you are interested in is not going to be the first item, you are kind of stuck hanging around.” Froetscher said, “That’s true whether you are meeting live and it is just as true online.”

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Twitter: @samheller5

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