City Council meeting canceled after damage from power outage

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The Redlands City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 7, has been canceled due to equipment failures at City Hall caused by a power failure in the downtown area earlier in the day.

The power outage, which was reported by Southern California Edison early Tuesday morning, caused computer and phone system failures throughout the Redlands Civic Center at 35 Cajon St. and other City facilities.

The power failure is also believed responsible for damage to the City’s cable television broadcasting equipment, leaving the City with no video or audio from the City Council Chambers. As a result, the City would have been unable to televise the meeting live or stream it over the City’s website.

On Monday, the City announced that Council meetings would be closed to the public in keeping with public health authority orders prohibiting public gatherings. Residents were encouraged to watch the meetings on cable television or stream them on their computers.

“The catastrophic failure of the City’s phone and broadcast systems today left us no alternative to allow the public to view the meeting,” said City Manager Charlie Duggan. “In the interest of transparency and public participation, we felt it necessary to cancel the meeting until repairs can be made.”

The meeting will be rescheduled once equipment repairs have been made.