By DOUGLAS GRAVES

Special to The Press

Lehigh County commissioners have started to transition back to regular in-person meetings.

These hybrid meetings will replace the exclusive on line meetings held for the past year and half during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the first time July 14, commissioners had a choice as to whether they would attend the regular meeting in person or via Zoom.

Two commissioners attended via Zoom while most of the others traveled to the meeting room in the Lehigh County Administration Building in Allentown. One commissioner was absent because of a family emergency.

The public remains restricted to attending via Zoom.

“Hybrid is the plan with the public hearing room opening to the public in August,” board Chairman Geoff Brace, said in an interview.

“We put a lot of work into the technology to make live public participation by Zoom possible and hope we can use it regardless of COVID. It’s good government.”

Commissioners adopted a measure to facilitate electronic signatures on official documents.

The 1999 Electronic Transactions Act defines an “electronic signature” as “[a]n electronic sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.”