Harrisonburg council elects leadership, appoints key staff and adopts electronic-participation policy

The Harrisonburg City Council held an organizational session in which it elected a mayor and vice mayor, confirmed several staff appointments, approved a committee roster and adopted an updated electronic communications policy that expands when members may participate remotely.

City leaders elected Mayor Reid and Vice Mayor Daniel Fleming and confirmed internal appointments for the city manager, city attorney and city clerk. Council also approved the list of council members and staff who will serve on boards, commissions and intergovernmental liaisons.

City Attorney Chris Brown, who explained the policy changes to council, said the General Assembly updated state law to add a third category allowing remote attendance when a council member must care for a family member with a medical condition that prevents physical attendance. "First, the policy now needs to be adopted every year, so we can do it now," Brown said. He said the law also increased the allowable personal-use remote appearances from two meetings per year to "2 or 25% of the number of meetings," a change that makes remote participation available up to six meetings a year for this council.

Brown told council the other statutory safeguards remain: a member seeking to appear electronically must identify the reason to the mayor before the meeting, a physical quorum of council members must be assembled in one location, and the council must vote to approve the member's electronic attendance. He added that longstanding rules on mayoral succession apply: if the mayor is…