A special Bradford City Council meeting held Friday set a new precedent — after facing some technical difficulties.
The meeting was live streamed via Facebook Live in an effort to maintain transparency when concerns about COVID-19 have shut down access to City Hall and in-person visits to public meetings.
A six-minute delay and one false start to streaming pushed the meeting back to a later start.
“For anybody who has been watching, we did have a technical difficulty,” said Mayor James McDonald. “New things like this have glitches when you are taking off, and it will be a smoother operation as we get going, I’m sure.”
However, once the live stream was underway, officials answered two questions that were emailed in by concerned residents and then voted on several matters related to city business.
Mark Zampogna and Tammy Miller each sent in questions related to COVID-19 cases. Zampogna’s question focused on the confirmed case in Cattaraugus County and the officials spearheading efforts in the Bradford area, while Miller touched on the proposal by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to send patients from New York City’s hospitals to outlying facilities, which could include Olean General Hospital.
In response to Zampogna’s concerns, Mayor James McDonald noted that officials with both Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center have been providing regular updates to local officials. Testing has been done at BRMC and so far, there has not been a confirmed case of COVID-19.
Councilman Brad Mangel explained he was part of a teleconference on Thursday morning that included McKean County Commissioner Tom Kreiner, who planned to reach out to officials with Upper Allegany Health Systems to find out up-to-date information. Mangel said that any new information would probably be available to the public through local media Saturday.
In response to Miller’s question regarding the transfer of NYC patients to OGH, McDonald noted that information would be provided if and when that possibility came to pass.
While handling new business, council awarded the contract for the Main Street Streetscape paving project to IA Construction and approved the purchase of a Woodhull ambulance for the Bradford City Fire Department.
Mangel made note of the fact that the city is down one backup ambulance and this purchase is meant to address that. City Administrator Chris Lucco clarified that the city has two ambulances in operation but typically has a second backup, and that ambulance is the one that this purchase will replace.
The final resolution approved at the meeting was an extension of the city’s emergency declaration for 30 days. The measure was passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned shortly afterward.
