ARICHAT - Richmond Municipal Council, which has held all its meetings via the video networking application Zoom for the past five months, may soon be ready to re-open its official gatherings to the public. 

Shortly after reaching an agreement with Telile Community Television to record and broadcast its virtual meetings, councilors at council's latest Committee of the Whole meeting on September 14 started to examine the possibility of re-opening the council chambers in Arichat to welcome visitors and media to Committee of the Whole sessions and the regular monthly council meetings. 

Richmond County officially shut down its council chambers at the county's municipal headquarters in Arichat on March 16, shortly after meeting with Nova Scotia Public Health officials to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying social-distancing regulations being implemented in Nova Scotia at the time. 

With these regulations now easing and a maximum of 200 people now permitted inside public buildings in Nova Scotia, provided that these people wear masks and are properly socially-distant, District 1 councilor James Goyetche raised the idea of re-opening Richmond council meetings to the general public. 

Goyetche told the September 14 Committee of the Whole meeting that he would gladly support the request from Telile's board of directors to give the community channel access to Richmond's public meetings once again, provided that the municipality consider opening up these meetings to the general public beginning with the September 28 regular monthly meeting of council. 

Other councilors, including Warden Brian Marchand, agreed to investigate the safety and logistical issues regarding a potential re-opening of Richmond council meetings to the public and the local media, including Telile's cameras and employees.