Mixed Meetings: Munich District Committee Meetings Digitally – Munich

White tables, dark chairs and two large screens on the wall: the room in the Art City Hall is not much different from other meeting rooms. It is special, however, because this is where the future digital local politics are tested. For the first time, Munich County Committees were able to meet in a hybrid format – that is, either on-site or as digital participants at home. Despite the technical hurdles, a new system may be an alternative.

More than two years after the pandemic, digitization has reached Munich at the district level. The management set up a room in the technical town hall on Friedenstraße where the local committee (BA) Berg am Laim was allowed to try out the technical equipment on behalf of the other 24 boroughs at two subcommittee meetings. “Except for a few teething problems, it worked well,” says Alexander Friedrich (SPD), chair of the commission, who was present at the pilot test.

In theory, he should have stayed at home. Because officially, there must be at least one person in the room for the meeting to take place legally. In order for related committee members to actually vote, they must be able to hear and see each other during the meeting. If everyone disconnects at the same time, at least one person – the session leader – will remain. “This is also the reason why it is not possible to vote, and therefore decisions are not possible in ‘purely digital’ meetings,” says a spokesperson for the City of Munich Press Office.

An alternative but not an alternative

In the case of the pilot, this extreme case did not occur, because almost all members of the Budget and Urban Development Subcommittee were physically present when things such as the district budget or new construction projects were discussed. On the other hand, the course was set for further digitization of local politics: two members participated in the online debate. As another online participant, a member of the BA called from Bogenhausen briefly, and his special committee meetings have now been canceled for three consecutive months due to rising cases of coronavirus: so a particularly large number are looking forward to the new models of digital democracy.

So far, some local committees have been broadcasting their meetings live on the Internet on their own initiative, but individual BA members have not yet been able to participate from outside in a legally compliant manner. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that the entire technology had to be regulated and operated by the district committees themselves. On the other hand, the parties followed the city council line. Until the beginning of the year there was no majority for mixed meetings, although it was approved by the Bavarian State Parliament in March 2021. Since January, however, the Munich city council committees have also managed to meet in a mixed form. And so the provinces follow suit.

Committees can now book the rehearsal room in the Art City Hall

He was not yet satisfied with the sound, according to Stefan Hoffmayer (ÖDP), who was technical in charge of the mountain on the Laimer test run. “There’s a lot of resonance in the conference room if everyone doesn’t have their own microphone,” he says. There were also difficulties starting the session, logging in, and authorizing guests. He sees mixed meetings as an opportunity to get together, “but there’s no comparison to a classic meeting where you can discuss directly with all colleagues.”

All other local committees can immediately reserve the rehearsal room at the Art City Hall. Additionally, the city announced that it intends to try video streaming elsewhere as well. It is planned to technically equip the Truding Cultural Center and the Milbertshofen Cultural Center in such a way that the BA Hybrid Courses will be possible there in the spring.