In a surprising turn of events, City Hall is finally re-opening council chambers to the public.
As ThoroldToday reported last week, Thorold is one of the last municipalities in Niagara to keep their council chambers closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The issue was brought forward by Councillor Henry D’Angela during Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
“I just read an article in ThoroldToday that talked about council chambers still being closed,” he told fellow councillors. "I think it's important that we invite the public back."
The city’s Chief Administrative Officer, Manoj Dilwaria, promptly announced that City Hall would be doing just that.
“I’ve discussed this matter with city staff and our council chambers will be open to the public for our next council meeting scheduled for Feb. 7,” Dilwaria said. “If someone is not able to return in person, they can always join us virtually.”
Councillor D'Angela applauded the decision.
"We don’t want to be seen as closed for business so if the council chambers is open that’s a good sign," he said.
Fire Chief Terry Dixon explained that the city had been cautious to reopen chamber doors because of the latest COVID variant that emerged around right before Christmas.
“We decided as a group to maintain a little bit,” he said.
However, some councillors expressed hesitation about opening the doors again.
“I do believe that we need some safety precautions going forward,” said Councillor Nella Dekker. “You can’t just open the doors and say: ‘Come on in.’ It is still out there. I like us to be more cautious.”
Dixon promised to take the necessary safety measures.
“We will definitely review the process if we’re going to open council chambers,” Dixon said. “There’s no social distancing rules in place right now, no mask mandates, but that doesn’t mean we can’t recommend that.”
And with that, council chambers will once again be open to the public. A press release with more details is forthcoming.
