by Megan Schiffres
HEATHSVILLE—Northumberland supervisors on April 1 chose not to acknowledge the irony of sitting two feet apart at a special meeting they held to enforce social distancing in the county by allowing public bodies to suspend in-person meetings.
The CDC’s definition of social distancing includes staying at least six feet apart from other people.
The emergency ordinance allowing any in-person meeting created by the board, including the school board, planning commission, board of zoning appeals, economic development board, wetlands board, board of equalization, and other commissions, committees or authorities, to be transferred to electronic broadcasts was unanimously approved, 5-0, by the board. Members Ronald Jett, Richard Haynie, James Brann, Jim Long, and Thomas Tomlin voted in favor of the ordinance.
These meetings may be moved to either audio, video, or telephonic mediums, and members of the public will have access…
