The Norway City Council started its meeting Monday with a moment of silence for former member Lee Meneghini, who died earlier in the day of COVID-19 complications.

Meneghini, 77, resigned from the council in early November, saying in a letter he was stepping down after 11 years — his second stint on the council — because “recent personal issues are making it impossible for me to carry out the duties, and the demands that I feel the position requires.”

While he indicated he still wanted to remain involved in the Parks and Recreation Board, he didn’t get the chance, City Manager Ray Anderson said Tuesday. City officials said he was hospitalized just before Thanksgiving.

Meneghini served four years in the 1980s, then returned in November 2009. In his time on the council, he was a member of the Planning Commission, the Jake Menghini Museum Board, the senior center board and the Norway Area Zoning Board of Appeals.

Council members were visibly shaken by the news during their Zoom meeting Monday and quick to praise Meneghini for his years of public involvement in Norway.

“It was a pleasure to serve with him these last few years,” Mayor Candy Brew said.

Scott Popp said in his four years on the council with Meneghini, “he really taught me the path,” then added a warning about COVID-19, noting that residents are losing friends and family to the disease.

“I hope people out there take this seriously,” Popp said.

“I just think he had a tremendous commitment to Norway,” Anderson said Tuesday. “He was very active, very involved. He loved Norway.”

In other matters, the council Monday:

— Tabled the 2021 sale price list for city of Norway properties. Though some prices were reduced in the

Oak Crest and Norway Spring subdivisions, several council members thought they remained too high to attract buyers, arguing the payback to the city ultimately will be through property taxes on those lots. But others on the council wanted to ensure the city at least breaks even on the sale. City officials will meet with Ryan Gordon of Stephens Real Estate, which handles the listings, and City Assessor Jim Waisanen to take another look at the prices.

— Extended the deadline for paying winter property taxes without penalty from Feb. 15 to March 1.