By Laura Keil

The Village of Valemount’s webinar on their draft Official Community Plan and zoning bylaw got off to a bad start Monday evening, after the posted zoom link turned out to be incorrect followed by an unknown person joining the meeting and doing what’s known as “Zoom bombing” —disrupting the meeting—in this case by yelling profanities, screaming, and speaking in Russian.

“It was kind of a failure to start off with (due to the link trouble), but now it’s a true failure,” said Village CAO Wayne Robinson Monday night, explaining why they had to shut down the meeting.

“I thought the person hosting the meeting would be able to mute the person but for some reason they weren’t able to.”

Robinson said they will convene tomorrow to choose a new date for the webinar so residents can have their say on the OCP, the key guiding document for Village planning for the next decade or more. *UPDATE* the new date for the OCP zoom meeting is Monday March 15th at 5:30pm. You must RSVP to join the zoom call. Email [email protected] for the link or watch the presentation live on the “Villa Valemount” YouTube channel.