City council begins hybrid online, in person meetings

By Matthew Nash • March 30, 2022 1:30 am
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Sequim city councilors host their first hybrid in-person, virtual meeting on March 28 after two years of virtual sessions. Participants, from left, included councilor Lowell Rathbun, Vicki Lowe, deputy mayor Brandon Janisse, mayor Tom Ferrell, Kathy Downer, and William Armacost. Rachel Anderson, pictured above, appeared virtually from another room in the Sequim Civic Center for the health and safety for one of her children.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Sequim city councilors host their first hybrid in-person, virtual meeting on March 28 after two years of virtual sessions. Participants, from left, included councilor Lowell Rathbun, Vicki Lowe, deputy mayor Brandon Janisse, mayor Tom Ferrell, Kathy Downer, and William Armacost. Rachel Anderson, pictured above, appeared virtually from another room in the Sequim Civic Center for the health and safety for one of her children.

Sequim city councilors and staff were greeted back to regular meetings in council chambers on Monday along with some homemade lasagna by councilor Vicki Lowe.

It was the council’s first meeting in the Sequim Civic Center’s council chambers in more than two years.

On March 19, 2020, city staff announced the shift to a virtual online format due to then-growing COVID-19 protocols. Some of the current city councilors did meet last July in the Guy Cole Event Center for a City Council Advance, or retreat, to brainstorm objectives and guiding principles.

During Monday’s four hour meeting, councilors opened with a work session discussing council rules and procedures, and in their regular session they approved proposed changes to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, and approved an 82-lot single family home subdivision, Mariner Outlook III off West Sequim Bay Road. It’s set for four phases with more information on the project in a future edition.

Going forward, the city will continue to offer hybrid meetings with in-person and virtual participation available via computer and phone. Seating is limited inside the council chambers with overflow in the lobby of the Sequim Civic Center.

For more information, visit www.sequimwa.gov or call (360) 683-4139.