John Mack - Newtown Supervisor
Middletown Township Hosts Successful "Hybrid" Public Meetings

Local governments and organizations were forced to transition in-person meetings to online, seemingly overnight, due COVID-19 restrictions and stay-at-home orders. Many townships learned new tools and technologies in order to continue to work and support their constituents.

As COVID-19 restrictions are being eased or lifted entirely and as more people are fully vaccinated, townships are planning to return to live in-person are have already hosting hybrid in-person/online public meetings (read "Incorporating Zoom Into Live BOS Meetings").

In the following 17-minute audio clip, Nick Valla, Assistant Middletown Township, PA, Manager, presents an overview of how his township learned to run "hybrid" public meetings that allow the public to participate in person or remotely via Zoom.

Mr. Valla presented his comments at a Zoom Webinar presented by Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) Office of Communication on June 9, 2021. The Webinar was titled "Ensuring Equitable and Engaging Meetings" and asked "Are Hybrid Public Meetings the New Norm?"

Mack's Newtown Voice · Middletown Township Hosts Successful "Hybrid" Public Meetings

Some Slides

Addressing the Big Questions
Middletown has chosen to use Zoom Webinar instead of a 
regular Zoom Meeting. It is impressive that there is also 
a live Youtube streaming video + Cable TV access.
The use of social media to be able to notify the public of changes 
is interesting, but having the same Zoom ID for every meeting is 
very useful as is the reading of the Zoom ID during the meeting. 
For BOS meetings, Newtown requires pre-registration, which
ends at 4:30 PM the day of the meeting. That means residents 
who learned of the meeting late will not be able to attend. Of course, 
with "hybrid" meetings, residents have the option to attend 
in person - another advantage of hybrid meetings!
Middletown is an early adopter of hybrid meetings and views them 
as providing more opportunities for the public to participate 
in their local government.
Survey asks: 
Do you favor the implementation of hybrid in-person/online township public meetings where officials meet in person as before COVID-19 but the public has the option to participate remotely via Zoom (or other technology) or in person? 
TAKE MY SURVEY.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Newtown Township approved survey. Its purpose is solely to inform John Mack – a Newtown Supervisor – of the public’s opinion regarding this issue.