Can’t make it to an Inglewood City Council meeting? You can now comment by phone or Zoom

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Locals can now dial into Inglewood City Council meetings by phone and Zoom to comment on issues affecting them.

Until July, the city only allowed people to give public comments in person or in writing. Now, a new state law, Senate Bill 707, requires eligible city councils and other governing bodies to allow remote comments. 

The new state law went into effect July 1 and requires cities to “reasonably assist” with translation services at meetings and to translate agendas into languages most commonly used by locals. If Zoom or two-way phone service is disrupted at a meeting, the law requires the governing body to go into recess for at least an hour to try to fix the issue. 

The Inglewood City Council rolled out its new dial-in system for the first time at its July 21 meeting and saw a handful of people call into the meeting over Zoom.

Mayor James Butts said the city didn’t allow remote comments before the state law for two reasons: “One, we didn’t have the capacity and two, it never occurred to us.”

City Clerk Aisha Thompson said in an email that the city currently plans to keep the log-in details the same for each meeting. 

Here is the Zoom and telephone log-in information for the upcoming meeting on Aug. 11:

• Online: https://inglewood.zoom.us/j/83282399789 
• Telephone: (669) 900-6833 
• Meeting ID: 832 8239 9789 
• Passcode: 90301

You can double check the Zoom link and meeting code each week. Go to the online City Council Agenda Center ahead of each meeting and check the first page of the meeting agenda for details. 

Agendas are typically posted online the  Friday ahead of the city’s weekly Tuesday meetings.