Fresno City Council ends call-in public comment over Zoom

Fresno residents will no longer be allowed to make public comments over Zoom during City Council meetings. 

That’s because the city council voted Thursday to rescind a COVID-19 era rule that opened up live public comment through the internet. 

The backstory: The City Council Public Accessibility Act was adopted in 2021 to allow the public to continue remote participating in the council meetings after they resumed in-person meetings. 

• Since that time the State no longer requires local governments to offer remote participation. 

The big picture: The city council voted 4-3 to amend the 2021 law to end the remote participation policy. 

• Councilmembers Annalisa Perea, Tyler Maxwell and Nelson Esparza voted against the change. 
• The resolution keeps the closed captioning that is offered online, as well as the Spanish, Hmong and Punjabi translations.