When will Thorold residents be able to attend city council meetings in person?
While Thorold City Councillors have been meeting together for quite some time now, the public has yet to be invited back to council chambers.
When the pandemic first hit in March 2020, the City of Thorold, along with all other Niagara municipalities, switched to a virtual format.
To keep residents in the loop, City Hall started streaming council meetings to the city’s official Youtube channel.
As pandemic restrictions loosened, other municipalities in Niagara started opening its doors to the public again.
St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Welland welcomed residents back into council chambers in the spring of 2022, and just last week the Township of West Lincoln announced it was following suit.
So why is Thorold choosing to keep the doors locked to council chambers?
When reached for comment, City Hall staff responded with the following written statement:
“City staff have been assessing the current situation/capacity, and we will do a media release when we are prepared to re-open the chambers to public. Until such time, residents can continue to participate in the meetings virtually."