Valley City Special Commission Meeting
Friday, November 6th, 2020
12:00 PM Meeting, via Zoom
President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 12:00 PM.
Members present: Commissioner Magnuson, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Erickson, Commissioner Gulmon
Others Present: City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, Deputy Auditor Klein, Police Chief Hatcher, VCSU President, Dr. Buhr, CCH Director Theresa Will
Approval of Consent Agenda
1. Approval of Raffle Permit for the Art Club Valley City High School.
Commissioner Bishop motioned to approve, seconded by Commissioner Magnuson. Motion carried.
New Business
1. Discuss COVID
President Carlsrud stated we are now in orange. The bullets were sent as to where we should be with our rulings and procedures at the orange level.
Information on the orange level:
-Only essential workers and essential travel are recommended.
-For businesses choosing to remain open the following is recommended: Wear facemasks and all non-essential businesses are limited to 25% rated room capacity while social distancing.
-Limit individual family groups, party sizes to one household or 10 people per party.
-Outdoor spaces follow industry specific Smart Restart protocols.
-Operators should post their temporary occupancy limit on all entrances.
-High risk individuals and their care givers should avoid crowds and large gatherings.
-Cancel gatherings of all size where social distancing cannot be maintained.
The next thing is to discuss group events, any thoughts?
Commissioner Bishop stated he’s not sure where churches are at right now but that may need to be addressed for them to cut back to the 25% and encouraging masks for everybody including restaurants and bars.
Dr. Buhr stated when you read some information it says where a mask when you can’t stay 6 feet apart. That doesn’t hold because if you cough that can go further than 6 feet. I say you are very close to shutting down bars and restaurants again. I feel nothing will work if you don’t see a sign requiring you to wear a mask. Some enforcement of that is a good idea of course but this facility requiring you to wear a mask is the biggest thing.
Theresa Will added she agrees with Dr. Buhr but there are some common sense things people are ignoring. If you get in a vehicle with someone that is not in your household, you need a mask. If you are in employment somewhere and you have other employees, you need to wear a mask. That will help keep your business open. Don’t go for lunch or sit at a meal with people that aren’t in your group. As City and County employees we can be examples, I encourage us to mask. We are working on a Mask Campaign and will be going door to door with information for businesses offering hand sanitizer, masks and a poster for their window.
Josh Johnson at the school district emailed they have very few cases but they have a number that are in quarantine and kids are going home and getting it from their parents.
VCSU President Al Lafave stated they have been doing okay as a campus. They have a mask requirement and several protocols in place. The number that is impacting them is the quarantine. 11 students on campus 38 off campus and 11 employees because of close contact. Our dashboard will also include a tab that shows recovered cases. We are looking at carefully post-Thanksgiving, we are concerned about what could happen after due to students traveling home. We have a large number of students that have chosen to synchronous in their course delivery post-Thanksgiving. We are here to support the City & County in what we can do to help get that message out. I do see a higher use of mass in the community.
City Attorney Carlsrud questioned a requirement for anybody planning for a larger event would need to receive permission prior and discuss what restriction they are putting in place to follow the guidelines.
Commissioner Bishop feels it’s a good idea to know what is going on. What’s the number we put on that they have to get permission.
Commissioner Gulmon feels it is time to implement a mask mandate. We should also, along with CCH and the Chamber, send information to our businesses to hang. We don’t’ want our businesses to close again. Also, other places have imposed an 11 PM bar closing, is that something we should we discuss?
Commissioner Magnuson stated he is in favor of 11 PM bar closings. From what I seen there are a lot of issues with the healthcare. Until you get those fixed you have walking time bombs out there that don’t even know it. Testing earlier and getting test results back earlier than 7 days is a must. If you don’t have to go out, don’t. If you or your kids aren’t feeling well, don’t go to work or school. We are becoming complacent and passing things off as allergies or a cold.
President Carlsrud stated a comment from the Governor was that they were partnering with additional places to help speed up the results.
City Attorney Martineck stated under the previous COVID 19 emergency that was signed we have the ability to make any additional restrictions or guidelines necessary.
Sharon Buhr, Chair of the CCH Board, stated she would like to bring up two things. We will be going door to door to businesses with the words mask up but we need the words to come from you in order to say “mandate.” Also the money. We won’t be charging anything to go door to door but we do need funds so we can do mass media campaigns. So I am asking from our board to your board for some monetary support.
Commissioner Gulmon motioned to form a committee to assess large group requests, close bars and restaurants at 11 PM and enact a mask mandate for a 30 day timeframe; seconded by Commissioner Bishop.
Commissioner Bishop- aye Commissioner Gulmon-aye Commissioner Erickson-nay Commissioner Magnuson –aye Commissioner Carlsrud –aye
Motion carried.
President Carlsrud requested thoughts around actions keeping our employees safe.
Commissioner Magnuson requested the same as last spring. Social distance, spread out breaks, wash hands, wear masks. Not proposing closing buildings at this time.
Meeting adjourned at 1:10 PM