All Bangor City Council meetings will be open to the public after Wednesday, in another sign of normalcy for the city as vaccination rates rise, city officials said.
The public had only been able to attend and participate in meetings of the council and its committees over Zoom since March 2020, when City Manager Cathy Conlow declared a state of emergency.
The next scheduled council meetings take place on Tuesday, July 6, when a number of committee meetings are scheduled.
In addition to resuming in-person council meetings, the city will lift its emergency order on July 7, a week after the Wednesday end of Maine’s civil state of emergency.
Council meetings will also continue to be broadcast on television and over Facebook. The city is also looking into hybrid options for future meetings, particularly related to public participation, Assistant City Manager Courtney O’Donnell said Wednesday.
About 80 percent of people in the 04401 zip code, which include Bangor, Glenburn, Hermon and Veazie, have received at least one dose of the vaccine as of Monday, according to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Bangor will also no longer require masking in most city offices, though city staff “strongly recommend” that unvaccinated people wear a mask and socially distance themselves from others. The city will continue to keep plexiglass up at its public-facing offices.
People riding on Bangor’s Community Connector bus system and going into Bangor International Airport will still be required to wear facemasks under federal directives.