Florida is silent on virtual meetings amid coronavirus. Cities are doing it anyway.

On Tuesday night, residents of Bal Harbour Village in Miami-Dade County tuned in to the regularly scheduled meeting of their village council. But the elected officials weren’t sitting on the dais at Village Hall.

Instead, they called in by video chat because of fears about the spread of the novel coronavirus. Residents weren’t there either — instead, they had the option of sending their comments via email during the meeting.

The mayor himself, Gabriel Groisman, is among those in Bal Harbour self-isolating after coming in contact with a local rabbi who reported testing positive.

“In practical terms, it’s entirely a public meeting,” Groisman told the Miami Herald. “Everyone can listen, the clerk will be taking minutes, the public can participate. We’re just doing it in a safe format.”

Technically, under interpretations by the Florida Attorney General, this isn’t allowed. That office has held that, although individual elected officials can call into meetings by phone in extraordinary circumstances, a physical quorum is required.

Municipalities and law firms around the state have reached out to state officials in recent weeks, seeking guidance on what to do if in-person meetings become impossible or unsafe. On March 4, the law firm Weiss Serota — which serves as in-house counsel for Bal Harbour and more than a dozen other municipalities across Florida — wrote Gov. Ron DeSantis to request he suspend rules on government meetings that require the public be admitted and that elected officials vote in person.

DeSantis would have the authority to waive that requirement because Florida is in a declared state of emergency.

But almost two weeks later, with some government officials self-quarantined and with federal officials advising against gatherings of more than 10 people, formal guidance from the state level still hasn’t come.

“As of yet we have not received anything definitive from the state,” said Susan Trevarthen, the village attorney for Bal Harbour and a lawyer for Weiss Serota.

Representatives for the governor and the attorney general didn’t respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

On Friday, Weiss Serota took matters into its own hands, issuing a memo to its municipal clients that said they should go ahead with virtual meetings if it’s necessary to conduct essential business in response to the crisis — such as, for example, voting to extend a city’s temporary state of emergency.

“During this declared health emergency, compliance with the physical quorum and public attendance requirements could jeopardize the health of the governing body members and the general public,” the law firm said. “Literal compliance with both the health recommendations and the Attorney General Opinions could prevent the governing body from performing essential public business.”

Trevarthen, the attorney for Bal Harbour, said the firm tried “to approximate Sunshine Law protections as much as possible while respecting the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommendations.”

Some cities in Miami-Dade County have canceled commission meetings in the absence of formal direction from the state on virtual ones. But others, including multiple Weiss Serota clients, are gearing up for a brave new world. Pinecrest held an entirely virtual council meeting Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, Homestead will hold a regular meeting, but members of the public won’t be allowed to attend. Residents can watch both on livestream and send comments via email.

“Many local governments are canceling public meetings that are not essential, but there are some actions that need to be taken so the government can adequately continue to provide services,” said Rebecca O’Hara, deputy general counsel for the Florida League of Cities.

O’Hara said she believes the governor’s office and the attorney general’s office are considering the matter before issuing a decision. In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order Monday suspending the state’s requirement to allow in-person attendance by residents at public meetings.

That order, which also banned all gatherings of 50 people or more in Illinois, said remote attendance by members of a public body must be approved by a majority of the body.

In Miami, City Attorney Victoria Méndez said she reached out to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Governor Ron DeSantis’s office to get an opinion on the matter.

“We spoke to the attorney general’s office, and right now there is no provision for virtual meetings,” Méndez told the Herald. She said she plans to work with the Florida League of Cities and the governor’s office to find a solution.

Commissioner Ken Russell raised the issue at a March 12 commission meeting, predicting the need for a virtual meeting should the COVID-19 outbreak force governments to cancel in-person gatherings. So far, the city has canceled all board, committee and commission meetings through the rest of March.

Russell, who is in self-quarantine following Mayor Francis Suarez’s positive COVID-19 test, said there needs to be a way to allow commissioners to meet virtually to make important decisions while still facilitating public participation.

”You can’t grind everything to a halt,” said Russell, who tested negative for the virus.

In Miami Beach, two city commissioners called into a Wednesday morning meeting but a four-member quorum was reached as the mayor and three other commissioners joined the city manager and attorney in the commission chambers.

Despite issuing a bulletin saying that the chambers would be closed to the public, they remained open on Wednesday.

The meeting was streamed live on Facebook and MBTV, as it typically is.

Miami Beach City Attorney Raul Aguila reached out to Moody and DeSantis’ office to get an opinion on the matter, but did not receive an answer before the meeting.

“The governor has not made a determination as to whether he will allow representative bodies of local government to meet remotely, so, for now, we are following existing law, which permits commissioners to participate and vote at a meeting remotely, as long as there is a physical quorum,” he said in a statement.

Committee meetings scheduled for early March have been postponed or canceled, but future committee meetings will be handled virtually if needed.

Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who attended the meeting, said elected leaders will need to adjust to this unusual circumstance.

“This is just the new normal,” he said.

Miami Herald staff writers Martin Vassolo and Joey Flechas contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 5:22 PM.