From time-to-time, some town councillors have participated in council meetings from a distance.

Monday night, they held their first all-out virtual regular meeting in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The six councillors were in remote locations. Only Mayor Jeff Genung was in the council chambers standing at the podium with a few members of town administration scattered throughout the chamber.

It was a relatively short meeting that intensely focused on the town's response to COVID-19.

"I was quite impressed with the outcome," says Mayor Jeff Genung. "For the first time, trying a new system under these conditions, I thought it went fairly well."

He expects they'll continue to hold their regular meetings that way, at least in the short-term.

"We're going to work to improve that system so it's not so clunky. We'll always look to improve it where we can."

"I was impressed with the way everybody handled themselves, given the new situation.

"I think everybody was actually eager to get back to work, and provide some local government," he continues. "We feel like we haven't been doing our regular duties. It was an opportunity to get back to work, and everybody jumped at that."

Council, though, has been meeting in the weekly in a similar manner to get updates.

In addition to virtual regular meetings, the mayor and CAO Drew Hyndman continue to appear weekly on Facebook Live on Mondays at 5 p.m. to provide COVID-19 updates and to answer questions from residents.