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Council is back in session for public — but not everywhere in the South Okanagan

Many communities are reopening while others are staying virtual
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The Village of Keremeos offices. (Brennan Phillips - Keremeos Review)

Council is back in session and open to the public - but not for every community.

The Village of Keremeos had its first in person council meeting on July 5, and they are requiring attendees to practice social distancing, and asking that the public continue to wear masks to their council meetings.

The next council meeting at the Town of Oliver will be the first to be reopened to the public on July 26.

The exact safety requirements for attending that meeting have not yet been announced.

Penticton is opening up its council meetings to the public on July 20, but it will be hosted at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre instead of in the council chambers at city hall.

READ MORE: Penticton opens council meetings to public again

Summerland and Osoyoos are both holding off on returning to physical attendance for the public just yet.

Osoyoos’s small council chambers, which has a capacity of 20 people without COVID-19, doesn’t have the room with the reduced capacity under the ongoing health guidelines to fit any more people than the staff and council members.

READ MORE:Summerland council meetings remain closed to in-person attendance

Summerland is staying virtual for now. They have recently reconfigured their council chambers to allow safe distancing between council members and staff, which has left a lack of space for the time being for any members of the public.

In all of the communities, council meetings and public hearings are being live-streamed by their respective staff. To view the session for your council, you can go to your local community’s website.

Council meetings across B.C. were closed to the public during most of the pandemic.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
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