For the first time since March 2020, Mason City council meets in person

MASON CITY — For the first time in over a year, the City Council met in person on Tuesday night inside the Mason City Room of the Public Library. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the council had been meeting in a virtual format via Zoom.

Mayor Bill Schickel says last night’s meeting was sort of a “dry run” for the city as they’ve installed new equipment in the Mason City Room to allow interactions via Zoom while continuing to broadcast the meetings on the public access channel and through the city’s website.   “We’ve installed some new equipment, and that’s what we were testing out last night, that will make us more efficient I think and more accessible to the public. By that, I mean you’ll be able to participate in city council meetings either virtually or in person. The same for council members, they’ll be able to participate primarily in person, but will have the option of participating virtually as well. I’m excited about it, it worked very well last night.”

Schickel says the upgrades will provide more accessibility of the meetings to the public.  “You’ll be able to participate from home virtually if you like, or you’re welcome to come to the council meeting as well. I noticed even the Iowa Legislature during COVID was taking a look at doing more things virtually, and I see they are looking at keeping some of those things in place when they go into the next session. We really learned a lot during this.”

Schickel made his comments on the “Ask the Mayor” program on AM-1300 KGLO earlier today. Listen back to the program and/or download it via the audio player below