The seventh seat for Sequim City Council will remain open for at least another two weeks after technological issues for teleconferencing moved city councilors to postpone their Monday, April 13, meeting.

A majority of city councilors on April 8 agreed to move their next regularly scheduled meeting to 6 p.m. Monday, April 27, broadcast from the Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St.

The city council is meeting remotely and broadcasting the meeting with a statewide ban on public gatherings and meetings in place to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush said at previous meetings, councilors and staff used Microsoft Teams to make video conference calls, but they do not have a phone-in option for the public to listen and not talk.

“We’ve been in touch with Microsoft, but they are backlogged significantly,” Bush said.

The request was made “a while ago,” he said, and councilors and staff decided on April 8 they couldn’t guarantee the technology would be in place by the April 13 meeting.

However, if it is in place before April 27, Bush said the city council could schedule a special meeting.

“The meeting is ready to go and the agenda is set; we just don’t have the technology to execute it,” Bush said.

The agenda includes council candidate interviews, a consent agenda and items related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bush said meetings are limited to routine business at this time, but they felt selecting a seventh council member was essential.

City councilor Jennifer States resigned on Feb. 24, giving the city 90 days to select her replacement before those duties would fall to Clallam County commissioners.

Four city candidates applied for the vacant position: Sarah Kincaid, Michael “Mike” Pence, Lowell Rathbun and Robert “Bob” Sheckler.

City staff said Gov. Jay Inslee’s March 24 proclamation revised the Open Public Meeting Act temporarily to prohibit in-person contacts with the public — including providing a public meeting space to attend the City Council meeting.

For the last meeting, city staff opened the lobby for people to listen to the meeting.

People can listen live to the meetings on the city’s website (www.sequimwa.gov), but residents are not able to phone in to the meeting and listen.

During the pandemic, public comments can be submitted in writing to City Clerk Sara McMillon by email at smcmillon@sequimwa.gov or mail to: City of Sequim, 152 W. Cedar St., Sequim, WA 98382, Attention City Clerk.

For more information, call 360-683-4139 or visit www.sequimwa.gov.

Charlie Bush, Sequim city manager, seen here on March 16, said due to phone-in issues, city councilors opted to cancel the April 13 meeting. A make-up meeting might be rescheduled prior to the April 27th meeting, he said. Sequim Gazette file photo by Matthew Nash