State of the City address followed by debate on online Bemidji City Council meeting access

By Nicole Ronchetti

February 21, 2024 at 4:11 PM

BEMIDJI 鈥� Tuesday鈥檚 meeting of the Bemidji City Council included the annual State of the City address given by Mayor Jorge Prince, along with a debate on online meeting access following the council鈥檚 Feb. 5 session being interrupted by virtual hate speech.

The regular meeting began with Prince鈥檚 address, during which he outlined 2023 as a year of change for Bemidji, noting staff turnaround, changes to planning and zoning and other shifts that took place within city government.

鈥淔or some change can be uncomfortable, stressful and perhaps even frightening,鈥� Prince said. 鈥淎lthough I understand those feelings, I believe with every change there鈥檚 an opportunity for improvement.鈥�

Prince stated that the city has weathered those changes while maintaining a strong financial position, and outlined what he views as the biggest challenges facing Bemidji in 2024.

First among these was housing, with the mayor noting that the city has been struggling with a shortage of housing stock for several years. This problem has been further exacerbated by recent housing emergencies at Bemidji's Ridgeway Court Apartments and Red Pine Estates.

鈥淲e know that our city continues to struggle with housing shortages, especially affordable housing,鈥� Prince said. 鈥淭here are lessons we learned from the events that took place at Ridgeway and Red Pine apartments. We need to take what we have learned and impact our city in a positive way.鈥�

Prince mentioned the growing need for public sector assistance in housing developments and encouraged the council to explore ways to partner with developers to address the city鈥檚 housing needs.

Public safety came as the next issue, with Prince noting the importance of police and firefighters and working to make every member of the community feel safe.

鈥淪trong public safety begins with making sure our police and fire departments are fully staffed, equipped and trained. As a community we need to find new ways to be proactive, seek out new partnerships and look out for one another,鈥� he said.

The final priority Prince listed was continuing efforts to grow the local economy. Prince shared that economic development will play a key role in keeping taxes reasonable while maintaining city services.

鈥淭he needs of our growing city coupled with inflationary pressures necessitated significant deliberation to arrive at a city budget that kept our services appropriate while not overburdening our citizens,鈥� Prince said. 鈥淚 believe we need to continue our work to grow our local economy.鈥�

Prince ended with a call for the community to come together, sharing that he鈥檚 seen what Bemidji can do when people join hands and work for the greater good.

鈥淚n an election year and in a world where it seems divisions grow every day, can we lay aside our differences, commit to treating others as we want to be treated and build a better Bemidji?鈥� Prince posed. 鈥淚 know we can.鈥�

Online access to council meetings

Following the State of the City address, the agenda item that got the most discussion during Tuesday鈥檚 meeting was if and how online public access to the council鈥檚 meetings should be changed.

The topic came after the council鈥檚 last session on Feb. 5 was interrupted by online participants in the meeting鈥檚 Webex link who unmuted and shouted racist and antisemitic language, causing the session to end early.

Several potential solutions were presented to the council:

Option 1: Continue to have a public Webex link, but have the meeting set up so that the city clerk must mute and unmute each virtual participant. This would allow online public comment to continue.
Option 2: Continue to have a public Webex link, with the city clerk muting and unmuting each virtual participant and with the added step of having anyone who wants to provide public comment virtually notify the city clerk prior to the meeting with the topic of their comments.
Option 3: Continue to have a public Webex link, but disallow virtual public comment entirely. Councilmembers, staff and presenters would still be able to participate in the meeting remotely.
Option 4: No longer have a public Webex link, but have the link available for staff and presenters as deemed necessary. Council members would no longer be able to participate in the meeting remotely since open meeting law requires any link councilors use to access a meeting to be public.
Option 5: Get rid of Webex entirely, and switch to Microsoft Teams for when staff and presenters require remote access. Council members would still not be able to participate in the meetings virtually.

The council meetings will continue to be streamed online via the city鈥檚 website and on Channel 2, the decision only relates to virtual participation from the public.

Upon initial discussion by the council, a majority of the members supported removing the option for virtual participation by the public entirely.

鈥淚 can count on one hand the (number of) times someone has offered input this way,鈥� explained Ward 5 Councilor Lynn Eaton. 鈥淓ven what we鈥檝e honestly offered has been abused. As long as we follow open meeting laws, I don鈥檛 see any reason for online access to our meetings.鈥�

Councilors who agreed with this noted that there are other ways for community members to provide comments if they aren鈥檛 able to attend in person, including by sending letters or emails to be read out during the public comment period by the city clerk.

鈥淕overnment has functioned centuries without having meetings on the web, this was all a product of COVID and people have abused it,鈥� said Ward 2 Councilor Josh Peterson.

Other councilors were less anxious to remove online access to the public, sharing that they believed it was important to keep city government meetings accessible to everyone. These councilors preferred taking Options 1 or 2, which would keep the ability for virtual public comment.

鈥淚 recognize there are people who can鈥檛 just come (to city hall). People want to have their voices heard, and to cut that off cuts those people off,鈥� Prince said. 鈥淚 want people to have an approachable, accessible government.鈥�

As the discussion continued, those who were against keeping online public comment talked about a hybrid option that would allow councilor members to participate in meetings remotely. This, which became Option 6, would mean meetings would generally have no public link but that one would be provided if and when a council member needed it to comply with open meeting laws.

While some councilors liked this hybrid, others found it too exclusive and questioned why the council should have special access to online participation when the public wouldn鈥檛.

鈥淚t鈥檚 starting to feel exclusive instead of inclusive,鈥� shared At-Large Councilor Audrey Thayer. 鈥淭here are too many people in this town who have not had access to our city to engage with the government. Just to have it available for us feels really exclusive. I can鈥檛 go there.鈥�

After Thayer鈥檚 comments, Peterson noted that he felt conflicted and was more on the fence than he had been previously. When a motion was made to adopt the hybrid Option 6, it failed 3-3 with Prince, Thayer and Peterson in opposition. Ward 1 Councilor Gwenia Fiskevold Gould was absent.

Faced with a stalemate, Prince said he would be willing to support Option 6 on the condition that the council hold a work session to discuss the matter further. When a motion for this was made, it passed 5-1 with just Thayer opposed.

Other business conducted during the meeting included approval for a 2024 Street Reconstruction project that will take place on 15th Street from Irvine Avenue to Bemidji Avenue.