Lakeshore and the County of Essex are ensuring business can continue if public meetings are cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
County council has voted to delegate authority to administration to approve items over $300,000 — previously any item over that amount needed a vote from council.
Council also approved a change to its by-laws to meet via phone or video chat if needed.
County Warden Gary McNamara says changes by the minister of municipal affairs have made remote meetings possible.
"Remote meetings were never allowed. So now they're making them a reality and that's not a bad thing," he says.
He says the county has to set an example.
"We're no different than anybody else. Social distancing is important to all of us and if we can Skype our meetings to keeps the business of the corporation moving forward, then that's not a bad thing," he says.
Lakeshore council has also voted to delegate authority to administration in an emergency and amended its by-laws to allow for remote meetings.
Mayor Tom Bain says town hall has been doing a great job with social distancing, but the time may come when councillors need to stay home.
"Now we'll be able to have council members stay at home and vote that way and be part of the meeting or, if worse comes to worst, all of council could roughly do that," he say.
Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain attends the regular meeting of council on June 27, 2017. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Bain says the next meeting of Lakeshore Town Council is likely to be cancelled so administration can catch up.
"Simply because the information that council would require hasn't been put forward due to the number of hours that our administration's been putting into committee meetings and coronavirus meetings," added Bain.
He tells AM800 News town hall has come together to deal with the pandemic.
"Staff has done an excellent job in keeping us ahead of things and we're communicating with the medical officer of health daily," he says. "Hopefully it doesn't get worse, but should it; I feel strongly Lakeshore will be prepared."
Both Essex County Council and Lakeshore already have the infrastructure in place to meet remotely so there would be little additional cost to the move.