ESCANABA — Despite technical difficulties, the Escanaba City Council successfully held its first virtual meeting Thursday, but it was far from business as usual as routine agenda items fell under the shadow of the coronavirus.

“This has got to be one of the most unusual meetings we have taken part in. We will learn as we go,” Mayor Marc Tall said, speaking from the council chambers at city hall to his fellow council members who logged into the meeting from their homes.

Despite City Clerk Phil DeMay calling the names of more than a half-dozen residents who logged into the meeting or called in by phone, no one spoke during the meeting’s first public comment period nor during the third of five public hearings planned to discuss the city’s upcoming fiscal year budget.

Meanwhile, on Facebook, the number of watchers viewing the live stream ticked up to around 66 viewers, some of whom interjected throughout the meeting. Their comments went unnoticed by council members, who could only see and hear each other, a select group of city staff, and those who had called in or logged in through the city’s Cisco Webex Meeting platform.

The council approved a traffic safety committee order to install “No Parking” signs on the east side of Sheridan Road from 15th Avenue North to the city’s public works building, located at 1715 Sheridan Road, but tabled a second order that would have installed “No Overnight Parking” signs in the city hall parking lot.

“Especially in the wintertime (when) we had snow piles, neighbors living around here were parking over here and taking up valuable parking places,” said City Manager Patrick Jordan, appearing at the meeting from his city hall office.

Because the overnight parking was primarily an issue in the winter, Council Member Tyler DuBord raised the idea parking only be limited when winter parking restrictions were in effect. After some discussion, the council postponed making any decisions on the matter until more information could be received from the city’s traffic safety committee.

The council then approved a resolution adding a section of South 32nd Street from 3rd Avenue South to 4th Avenue South to the city’s street system. The section of roadway was part of a special assessment district for curb and gutter work last year, but including it in the street system allows the city to access Public Act 51 money from the state.

While the first two items listed under “New Business” on the agenda running relatively smoothly, the impact of the virus on city operations came to the forefront when City Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi appeared before the council to request the city hire Terrazzo Creations and Renewal of Norway to do work on digester No. 4 at the city’s wastewater plant.

According to Lampi, a portion of the roof liner on the digester was removed about 20 years ago because it wasn’t functional. After the liner was removed, water began to penetrate the block foundation, and due to repeated freezes and thaws, bits of the block began to fall in and around the digester tank.

Lampi acquired a quote from TCR to repair the block for an amount not to exceed $19,700. However, a quote is not a bid, and approving the retainment of TCR without going through the bidding process would go against the city’s purchasing policy. Still, some council members felt it was more important to lock in a contractor as soon as possible than to stick to procedural norms.

“If we wait till people start coming back (to work) after the virus, they won’t come back all at once. They’ll come back the bold ones, then the risk-takers, then the normal people. And those first people coming back are going to be able to charge whatever they want. I think the price is predictably going to go up. If we lock in a contract now, we’ve got a contract now,” said Council Member Ralph Blasier.

After some discussion — peppered by drops in audio that prevented Council Member Tyler DuBord from voting — the rest of the council approved retaining TCR for a cost not to exceed $21,000.

“This is exactly the reason we have a light agenda tonight,” said Tall of the audio difficulties. “We’re learning a new system and there are obviously some weak points we need to shore up before we go into next week’s budget hearings.”

The virus also cast a dark cloud over a series of street closures on Ludington Street and on the 100 block of South 13th Street to 1st Avenue South that were planned for summer events including Classic Car and Bike Nights, the Krusin Klassics Fun Run Parade, and a Wheeling Sportsmen event.

“My only caveat would be, the Fun Run, depending on what happens with the lockdown from the state — or the feds — whether we’ll even be able to have the Fun Run or the June (10) Bike Night. (We’ll) revisit it if the time comes,” said Jordan.

During announcements, the council urged residents to take the virus seriously. Council Member Peggy O’Connell told viewers she personally had someone close to her hospitalized with the virus.

“No playdates. Keep your kid home. Let’s just get through this so that people live and people get back to doing business, people get back to work. Please,” she said.

Tall said the city had been asked to close the parks due to the gatherings that took place in Ludington Park over the last few weeks that violated social distancing rules.

“I want to keep it open for walking and biking and solitary activities, such as that, but we can’t have groups gathering in any numbers at all,” said Tall. “This is a difficult time that we’re going to all, hopefully, look back on sometime in the future and say, ‘Boy, I’m glad we got through that,’ but while we’re going through this, we have to be vigilant. Stay home; stay safe.”

The somber tone of the meeting was broken slightly with a plan for community solidarity in the form of a proclamation from Tall starting the “Evening in Escanaba” initiative. The proclamation read, “Every evening at 6:30 p.m., residents and families are encouraged to come out of their homes wave to neighbors, visually check in with one another, and generally provide comfort and safely interact with each other within the guidelines of proper social distancing.”

As he finished reading the proclamation, Tall underscored the portion of the order on social distancing.

“That’s important,” he said.