It was a surprise to be sure. Monday night's Elliot Lake City Council meeting was billed as a virtual session on the agenda posted on the city's website.
All such meetings have been virtual council sessions since March. They've been conducted virtually using ZOOM software, with participants linked together electronically from remote locations outside Elliot Lake City Hall.
That was all in light of the city's self-distancing protocols established in the wake of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Monday night's city council meeting was telecast from the council chamber live on Eastlink Cable TV, simultaneously live-streamed on the City of Elliot Lake city website.
In attendance in the Council Chamber were 8 people including six councillors and two staff members. Both staff, CAO Daniel Gagnon and City Clerk Natalie Bray, wore masks as they fulfilled their roles in the chamber.
Also in the room were Councillor Chris Patrie (no mask), Councillor Norman Mann (masked), Councillor Luc Cyr (unmasked), Mayor Dan Marchisella (also unmasked), between and behind the mayor and Councillor Ed Pearce (masked), was City Clerk Natalie Bray (also masked).
To the left of Councillor Pearce was unmasked Councillor Tom Turner. To his left was Elliot Lake CAO Daniel Gagnon, wearing a mask
The room count was four masks, four bare-faced.
Weeks ago Councillor Sandy Finamore stated publicly she would not feel comfortable attending any meeting in City Hall in light of COVID-19 protocols.
She attended Monday's meeting remotely via telephone.
Since both the media and public were not allowed into the chamber, there was no way to know whether the technical producer was in the room and whether he or she was masked. The producer sits many feet away from other participants in the room
What was clear, Elliot Lake City Council conducted its first meeting in months in the Council Chamber Monday night.
It preceded by four days by an edict proclaimed last week by the Algoma Public Health Unit directing that masks must be worn in all public spaces in the district, starting next Friday, July 17.