Key West leaders back in the workplace amid COVID. Here’s what City Hall looked like
The Key West City Commission returned to City Hall on Tuesday to meet in person for the first time since March, when public meetings moved online due to the pandemic.
Plexiglass partitions were in place between commissioners, who were also spaced apart from each other.
Everyone who attended was required to wear a mask throughout the meeting.
The return to City Hall, 1300 White St., is part of the state’s Phase 3 of reopening, which Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Sept. 25.
The governor’s order said public meetings should go back to in-person. He later gave local governments until Nov. 1 to resume in-person meetings, and in the meantime said they may remain virtual.
Key West leaders decided to return to City Hall on Tuesday.
Mayor Teri Johnston attended the meeting with Commissioners Sam Kaufman, Clayton Lopez, Billy Wardlow and Jimmy Weekley. Commissioner Greg Davila was absent.
Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover, who has a respiratory illness, participated via Zoom.
“Can you hear me through the mask?” Kaufman asked Johnston at the beginning of the meeting as the panel organized the agenda for the meeting.
“I can kind of hear you, I can’t see you,” Johnston replied.
About 40 people, including city workers and people involved in presentations and proposals on the agenda, were asked to practice social distance during the meeting.
At the front door, Jim Young, the city’s code compliance director, took the temperature of those entering.
Speakers, who appeared at a lectern one at a time, were allowed to remove their masks while they spoke to the commission.
After each speaker, a city employee wiped down the lectern and the microphone.
Most of the chairs in the audience were arranged in pairs, which were spread out across the room.
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