With social distancing and stay-at-home orders in place from the governor’s office, St. Clair County local governments are taking varied approaches to holding open meetings.

The Pell City Council has held its regular meetings, officials have been limiting occupancy and making sure to maintain the appropriate six feet apart. The City of Springville held several of their city council and planning and zoning meetings via zoom.

The Pell City School Board met last Tuesday, but is asked the public to not attend. Instead, the meeting was live streamed online. The St. Clair County Commission held a public hearing via phone conference.

All of these are acceptable ways of conducting the people’s business, according to the Alabama League of Municipalities (ALALM). The organization posted a memo telling cities and towns that under Gov. Kay Ivey’s emergency order, councils can postpone or cancel meetings as long as they provide public notice.

They are also able to meet via telephone or video conference as long as the agenda items relate to COVID-19 or are “essential minimum functions” of the boards. An example of an “essential” function, the association said, is a zoning board meeting to decide zoning applications or appeals. Overall, though, the state order does not define what is or is not essential.

Statewide, governments have been trying continue doing business in the open, said Lori Lein, general counsel for ALALM. “They really are genuinely interested in transparency,” she said.“The vast majority are doing their best to be as transparent as possible.”

She said the response across the state has varied, from the more technologically advanced who are using on-line platforms like Zoom and FaceBook Live to meet and hear public comments to those who are meeting in person, but doing so outdoors to spread out more.

“They’re being creative,” said Lein.

If local governments hold telephone conference meetings, as they’re allowed to under the order, they have to provide much more detailed minutes from from the meeting, said Lein.

The Alabama Press Association General Counsel Dennis Bailey said they’ve received a few questions about public meetings under the emergency order, mostly about recording the meetings and being present for them.

The governor’s order limits “public gatherings” to 10 people or less, a requirement the Pell City Council has tried to follow during public meetings.

According to Lein, keeping the number of people in the room to 10 and under may not necessarily be required as the meeting could be classified as the “work” of the city, an exception to the 10 person rule. However, she said, they “are required to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to avoid a gathering of 10 persons or more and to ensure that the persons in attendance maintain six feet social distancing.”