Fairfield plans public hearing on rec center mask policy

The Fairfield City Council's next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday has been moved from City Hall to the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center due to an expected high turnout for a public hearing on the rec center's mask policy.

The public hearing on the mask policy will be the first thing discussed after the council approves its consent agenda, normally a formality that lasts a minute or two.

The public hearing was scheduled in response to the Fairfield Park and Recreation Advisory Board's recommendation to the council that the Roosevelt Recreation Center maintain its mask mandate until 50 percent of the county's population aged 60 and older are vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.

The most recent council meeting on March 8 included a crowd that filled the council chamber to listen to the discussion on the mask mandate.

Rules

The council has established rules for the public hearing. It will limit discussion of the matter to 30 minutes, with 15 minutes allotted for people speaking for the mask mandate and 15 minutes for people speaking against. Each individual wishing to comment will be allowed three minutes to speak.

'Normal rules of decorum will be followed and no derogatory comments toward the council, staff or other individuals will be allowed,” stated a news release from Fairfield City Administrator Aaron Kooiker. 'Any person not following the rules of this meeting will be asked to leave the meeting.”

How to watch

The Fairfield Media Center will be livestreaming the council meeting on YouTube as it normally does.

'Unfortunately, we cannot use Zoom with everyone being in one room while having guests,” stated a Facebook post from the media center. 'This would cause horrible feedback issues and would confuse the built-in [artificial intelligence] that switches back and forth with whoever is speaking.”

The Fairfield Media Center encourages members of the public to contact their council representative, the mayor or the city administrator to voice their opinion on the matter if they do not wish to appear at the meeting in person.

'City Council members will not be able to see any comments left during our livestream unless they are watching on their phones,” FMC stated.

To watch the meeting, visit: Youtube.com/watch?v=D_FAARms9qA