Hybrid will also advise committees of the district council from now on, but only district councils are allowed to connect via video.
This has something to do with previous decisions.
District - Without much debate, the district council voted on Monday for the introduction of so-called hybrid meetings, in which district councils - and only these - can participate digitally from home.
Citizens still need to come to the boardroom and they may need to get tested beforehand.
Hybrid meetings have recently become possible following a change in the law in Bavaria, which removes the requirement to personally attend meetings. As reported, the district has created a data protection-compliant system with which district councils (and administrative staff) can intervene, see everyone, hear everyone and also vote. At least the chairman of the meeting has to sit in the hall itself, mostly District Administrator Stefan Frey - and listeners and press, to whom the district denies digital access. This has nothing to do with the specifications of the hybrid meetings, but more to do with the fact that the district council rejected a live stream of its meeting due to insufficient willingness among district councils and administrative employees. If the public were allowed to hybrid meetingsthat would be equivalent to a live stream - and then all meeting participants would have to agree to the transmission (which almost half of those surveyed at the time do not want). Hybrid sessions will be held by the end of the year; then it should be decided whether to stick with it.
Compulsory test at meetings: Legally tricky
District Administrator Stefan Frey also asked for an opinion on how the district councilors feel about compulsory testing at these meetings.
This is legally tricky because the district administrator has domiciliary rights in the meetings and it is fundamentally problematic to exclude listeners or even district councilors.
Some communities require negative tests, as they are necessary in the beer garden, others appeal, still others do not ask for anything.
At the district level there have been appeals to appear tested.
Prof. Ingo Hahn (AfD) protested against an obligation, after all, there is also a mask requirement and distances, and a superspreader incident is not known. If one were to exclude those not willing to test, “we have a democratic problem”. Other district councilors found this absurd: You have a responsibility for the health of others, warned Dr. Ute Eiling-Hütig (CSU), Martina Neubauer (Greens) referred to cases of infection in municipal council meetings and the long time the meetings lasted. When Christine Nimbach (non-attached) pointed out the alleged weaknesses of the tests and called for a detailed debate in the district council, Frey was satisfied: "I will certainly not make this an issue in the district council," he said, rather it falls under his domestic authority. And he always wants to make “effective decisions”. In conclusion, no decision has been made about compulsory testing,but it is considered to be rather unlikely. The first hybrid meeting should be that of the Social Committee on June 16.