As health orders ease, many Mahoning and Shenango governments and businesses are transitioning back to in-person meetings, weighing out whether they will continue virtual meetings simultaneously.

Boardman Township resident Gary Hassay said the virtual meetings during the pandemic have kept him in the loop and does not want this engagement to go away. 

Hassay said he's been calling in remotely to attend Boardman township trustee meetings for months, adding the convenience and extent of the information he's learned is an eye-opener.

"I kind of look at it like a 45-minute podcast where I'm just hearing what's going on," Hassay said, "and after about 15–20 minutes I'm making dinner... I'm watching kids...I'm living life. We need to kind of update with the times and bring the government to where people are."

A handful of local governments said they plan to utilize a hybrid option of both in-person and remote access for the community during meetings. 

"We had a number of residents who regularly checked in to our meetings through the zoom platform," Howland Township trustee Matthew Van Such said, "and they were regular participants in asking us questions... engaging in a dialog with us... and I would like to see that continue in a hybrid way going forward. The zoom makes it easier for people... it takes less time...they don't have to drive to the township... they don't have to be on video but they can still call in and listen in."

Boardman Township trustee Tom Costello said although their virtual meeting participation is low, they plan to continue the remote option through the summer and fall to see how well-received it is. 

"Everything was put into place to do virtual meetings over the past year, so why not continue to do it?" Costello said. 

Meanwhile, Van Such said Howland's township trustee virtual meetings had noticeably more community attendance compare to their in-person-only meetings.

"So we're going to move forward, and I think be in a better position than we were pre-pandemic," Van Such said. 

Superintendent of Mahoning's Education Service Center, Traci Hostetler, said she hopes in-person meetings exist only because she feels it makes for better communication rather than trying to navigate an efficient conversation with people through technology. 

Youngstown State University Social Media expert Adam Earnheardt said Hostetler's point is a flip side to virtual communication that will always exist.

"I feel for those people who want to be in the same physical space," Earnheardt said, "We can read those turn-taking cues a lot better than we can with technology."

He adds body language and verbal messages are crucial but said giving a hybrid meeting option for the public to connect makes sense looking towards the future of technology, especially post-pandemic.

"We've spent the last 16 months... 18 months... trying to figure all this stuff out," Earnheardt said, "And we've become really good at it. We're not going to give it up now. It's become part of our everyday. It's like when we sent our first e-mail."

He said if there were another COVID-19 spike or another situation causing people to separate, continuing the use of virtual technology will make for an easier pivot to navigate in society.

Some officials in rural communities, such as Columbiana Commissioners and Warren City Council members said they do not have enough online participants to make the hybrid option worth it, but many local urban areas including local government in Mahoning, Trumbull and Mercer counties plan to offer a virtual option as they're transitioning back to in-person meetings. 

"I would like to see an acknowledgment that where we are in 2021 is not where we were 40 years ago," Hassay said, "and the lives of people are not the same."