The return of the public to Long Beach City Council meetings tonight means community members will once again be able to address elected officials in person but also marks the end of remote participation, something that a group of council members is now asking the city to look at extending.

Council members Suzie Price, Mary Zendejas, Daryl Supernaw and Roberto Uranga are asking for the city manager to work with the city clerk’s office to determine if telephone comment can be brought back just two weeks after the city announced it would go away.

The request cites the need for public comment to continue to be accessible to residents who are unable to attend meetings for a variety of reasons including work and school schedules conflicting with meeting times as well as child care and transportation issues. There was no timetable on when the members would like a feasibility report to be returned to the council.

“As we move back to holding in-person City Council meetings it is important that we ensure our public comment process is available to everyone,” the four council members said in a letter outlining the request.

Telephonic public comment and emails have been the only way the public was able to address the council over the past 13 months and that system weaved together multiple platforms including WebEx, Zoom and the city’s normal broadcasting arm to allow the public to interact with the council and other boards and committees.

City Clerk Monique De La Garza said last week that trying to run both in-person meetings and coordinating callers, who wait in Zoom-rooms until the items they want to comment on are called, would be challenging and might require additional funding for her department.

“To try and do public comment in the council chamber and telephonically would be a lot right now,” De La Garza told the Post last week.

Whether Long Beach decides to extend public comment through telephone might not be up to the council if a state law currently working its way through legislative committees is adopted.

Assembly Bill 339 could require cities with more than 250,000 residents to make telephone public comment available to residents at least through the end of 2023. The bill is scheduled to be heard by the state’s senate judiciary committee July 13.