Community budget meetings: COVID-19 Update

I understand that Metro public health officials may soon update their guidance about gatherings in Nashville. At this time, the Metro Public Health Department is not requiring closures or cancellations, but I have been asked to be aware of risks that can be mitigated with reasonable precautions. 

I have already held the first four community budget meetings. Each has drawn approximately 50 to 85 attendees. Many attendees have been over the age of 60, which is considered high risk for COVID-19 complications.

The advice I have received is that organizers of gatherings of any size should carefully assess the necessity of the meeting itself. Organizers should ask, if there are high-risk attendees, does the meeting have to be now? Or, can the attendance list be narrowed to an essential minimum, or can teleconferencing, video conferencing or other means be used to allow remote participation by at-risk members?

Because many of our meeting attendees are in a high risk group and in consideration of this advice, we are cancelling the two remaining Community Budget Meetings, which were scheduled for:

• Thursday, March 12, at 6:00 pm, at the Hermitage Library

• Saturday, March 14, at 3:00 pm, at the Madison Police Precinct

I am working on arranging to conduct a live version of the Community Budget Meeting on Metro’s tv and/or YouTube channel — hopefully with the ability to take questions by email, Facebook, and/or Twitter. I will provide details about this as soon as they are available.

Because these meetings are being cancelled on short notice, please share this information.