Public meetings this week look at bike lane installations and their aftermath; election finance; special education goals and programs and kids’ social-emotional health; and changing yard setback rules, a lab building proposed in Alewife and a redesign for Carl Barron Plaza in Central Square.

The city has started to look at paying members of boards and commissions as a way to broaden the pool of candidates – news that came as City Manager Louis A. DePasquale reappointed Planning Board members in what some saw as a political response to November elections.

Now that city and town health departments are taking back responsibility for investigating cases of Covid-19 and tracking their contacts, state officials say local workers can scale back their efforts after Jan. 1 by singling out problems in certain settings, such as clusters of infections.

The next chief public health officer will be Derrick Neal, the city announced Monday, catching up with a city councillor’s resolution from Thursday that welcomed him.

The main public meeting this week is of the City Council, whose agenda includes items about the upcoming inaugural event, a real estate transfer tax, citywide rat control efforts, finding long-term space for nonprofit organizations in Central Square and much more.

Cambridge reportedly has a new head of its public health department, though the news came via a resolution from city councillor E. Denise Simmons on the agenda for Monday’s council meeting, not an official announcement.

Election Commissioners completed a count of provisional and overseas absentee ballots on Friday, making official the results from Nov. 2. Those elected to the City Council and School Committee didn’t change, and three ballot questions changing the city charter were approved by wide margins. 

Public meetings this week look at bike lane installation issues, a freeze on labs and offices around Alewife, a new universal playground at Danehy Park, a bunch of potential landmarking and property tear-downs, raising developer linkage fees, redesigning Cambridge Street and much more.

Voters approved three ballot questions Tuesday dealing with the city charter, according to a preliminary vote count by election commissioners.

A small group of Cambridge Health Alliance employees who face termination because they refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19 after losing their bids for religious and medical exemptions carried protest signs outside CHA Cambridge Hospital on Tuesday.