When it comes to high-profile displays of social distancing, this week’s most dramatic — not to mention most surreal — public flex goes to Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo. During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Murillo had the dais entirely, completely, and exclusively to herself. “It was tiring,” Murillo would comment afterward. “We forgot to factor in time to take a break. So, I had to sit there for five hours straight,” she said. “It was intense. Normally at council meetings you don’t have to worry about looking at the camera. I had to remind myself not to look down.”
In sharp contrast, the Board of Supervisors meeting — held the same day but a few blocks away — was positively a mob scene. Three of the five supervisors spread out on the dais in the Santa Barbara supervisors’ chambers on the fourth floor of the downtown County Administration Building, and the remaining two beamed themselves in remotely from the county’s Santa Maria meeting room. Supervisor Das Williams distinguished himself by wearing a face covering during the meeting, though mostly around his neck. (He also brought his oldest daughter along, though her patience with board deliberations soon wore thin, and she quickly absented herself from command and control.)
Murillo may have been the only elected official on the dais — or in the room for that matter — but she was not alone. All six councilmembers joined in remotely from either their homes or their offices, thanks to the technological magic of GoToWebinar. As with all efforts to embrace new technologies, there were bugs to be worked out. For this week’s council meeting, no fewer than three rehearsals were required. Also chiming in were City Manager Paul Casey and City Attorney Ariel Calonne, each from their respective City Hall offices offscreen, as well. Had they stayed in the chambers, the feedback from their microphones could have rendered the meeting’s acoustics excruciating to those attempting to tune in. Members of the public were given a venue for weighing in, as well, though only their voices were transmitted.