New council, mayor take their seats (in person)

The council established during the 2022 general election gathered for its first meeting Tuesday. Three newcomers joined six returning councilors for the first completely in-person meeting since 2020.

In its first fully in-person meeting since March of 2020, the Laramie City Council met in City Hall’s council chambers Tuesday. The council welcomed three new councilors elected this November and voted for its leaders.

Councilor Brian Harrington, who was first elected in 2018, was unanimously chosen as mayor; Councilor Sharon Cumbie, who was first elected in 2020, was unanimously chosen as vice-mayor.

“Over the course of my four years on the council, I have learned that regardless of our differences on policy, each member of the council is making decisions with what is best for Laramie in mind,” Harrington told the Laramie Reporter. “As mayor, I will focus on understanding each member’s perspective and working with them to find solutions to the issues before us. I have a deep respect for the leadership of every member of the council and it is not lost on me the responsibility they have entrusted me with.”

Newly elected Vice-Mayor Sharon Cumbie and Mayor Brian Harrington preside over the council meeting Tuesday.

The position of mayor means less in Laramie than it does in other Wyoming communities given Laramie’s “city manager” style of government, but the title does confer some responsibilities.

As mayor, Harrington will preside over the council’s meetings, maintaining order and interpreting the rules that guide each meeting’s flow. The mayor’s signature must appear on “ordinances, resolutions, proclamations, bonds, contracts” or anything else signed in the name of the city, according to city ordinance.

And in extreme situations, the mayor can issue a “proclamation of emergency” when they determine “that an emergency exists as a result of mob action or other civil disobedience causing danger of injury to or damages to persons or property” — again according to city ordinance. The proclamation would allow the mayor to set curfews for people and businesses and close public thoroughfares to all but emergency personnel.

Harrington said he hopes the council focuses on holistic economic development, environmental stewardship, improving and expanding housing, and strengthening relationships with the county government and the University of Wyoming.

“During my tenure as mayor, I will focus on connecting with residents in new ways, encouraging economic development efforts in a holistic and strategic way, and working on community building after the unprecedented challenges of the last few years,” Harrington said. “We have no shortage of hard work ahead and I am eager to get after it.”

In addition to naming a mayor and vice mayor, the council appointed themselves to the city’s various board and commissions, set their official seniority list (breaking ties wherever councilors took office simultaneously), and reestablished the Laramie Boomerang as the official paper of record (meaning government notices will be published in its pages).

All nine councilors were present in the chambers Tuesday, the first time that’s occurred in almost three years. While former Councilor Bryan Shuster attended the council’s Zoom meetings from the chambers throughout that time, most other councilors and public commenters attended virtually.

Council meetings were moved mainly online (and then completely online in 2021) as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19 — a disease that has killed at least 54 Albany County residents in the last three years.

The virtual model came under attack this fall when Shuster led a campaign to end the virtual-only meetings and move to the hybrid model that’s now in place (a model that provides for both in-person and online participation).

At the time, Harrington said changing the meeting method would make the council less efficient in its final three months of 2022. He advocated waiting until the new council was seated in January. The majority agreed, rejected Shuster’s proposal and spent their final months fixing rental regulations and establishing an agency to address blight.

But many of the objections raised against hybrid meetings in October were left out of the discussion Tuesday. As the Laramie Reporter noted at the time:

… (Councilor) Jayne Pearce, who works in online and distance education for the University of Wyoming, said hybrid models are difficult to get right.

“The research is suggesting — and folks have been researching this, obviously, the last couple of years now — that either meetings should be conducted on Zoom, all in the same format, like we’re doing now, or in-person,” Pearce said. “One or the other.”

Instituting an effective hybrid model would have budgetary implications, she added.

“If you opt to have a hybrid meeting, you need to have the appropriate equipment and possibly a facilitator,” Pearce said. “Because you need to have somebody watching to make sure that questions from the public, from the councilors, aren’t being missed because now they’re in multiple locations.”

Neither Pearce nor any other councilor raised this point Tuesday when the council decided to switch to a hybrid model. Councilor Erin O’Doherty clarified that at least one staff member would have to be present in-person to facilitate the hybrid council, board and commission meetings, but no one outright objected to going hybrid, and the arguments raised by Pearce in October were absent from the discussion Tuesday.

The council chamber is now fully equipped to handle both in-person and online participation — by councilors, staff and members of the public.

Councilor Andi Summerville praised the hybrid model Tuesday, saying it keeps a virtual participation option alive for Laramie residents.

“The Zoom feed is better access for the public, better access for council members who may not be here every single Tuesday,” she said.