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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04152020 City Council Special Meeting Minutes City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes April 15,2020 Volume 41,Page 145 CALL TO ORDER The April 15, 2020 special meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 5:00 p.m.by Mayor Christy Terry. OPENING CEREMONY City Manager Scott Meszaros led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Christy Terry presiding and Sue McClure Sharyl Seese(telephonically, at 5:05 p.m) John Osenga(telephonically) Tony Baclaan(telephonically) Dale Butts (telephonically) Julie Crites (telephonically) comprising a quorum of the Council; and Scott Meszaros, City Manager Brenda Ballou, City Clerk Holly Wells, City Attorney(telephonically) Excused—None Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING The City of Seward is currently experiencing a declared public health emergency due to Coronavirus Disease 2019(COVID-19),so alternate methods for providing Citizen Comments were created. The following written Citizen Comments were submitted in advance and read into the record by the City Clerk: Maya Moriarty,Lynda Paquette,and Rhonda Hubbard all supported council's efforts to protect the community, but requested that face coverings only be required when citizens were in public locations like the grocery store and post office, or when they would potentially be sharing spaces with others Callie and Andrew Bacon,Jen Leahy,and Halley Werner and Nathaniel Charbonneau all supported council's mandate to require face coverings in public. Tara Reimer was contacted by telephone to deliver her comments: Reimer said she two applauded council's concern for public safety in issuing the face covering mandate,but thought they City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes April 15, 2020 Volume 41, Page 146 should be worn only in public or if there was not another, more appropriate face covering already required to be worn for their job. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (McClure/Osenga) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous There were no consent agenda items. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Items for Reconsideration Resolution 2020-028, Ratifying Additional Temporary Emergency Operation Rules And Procedures Implemented By The City Manager In Response To The Public Health Emergency Caused By COVID-19. Motion to Reconsider (McClure/Terry) Reconsider Resolution 2020-028 Motion to Reconsider Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Terry/McClure) Amend Resolution 20-028 by striking, "In ..r� addition,the City of Seward mandates that all persons wear a cloth face covering if not inside their place of residence or place of lodging; this goes into effect on April 14, 2020 at 9:00 p.m. Per CDC guidelines, children under two years old are not required to wear face coverings." Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Crites/Baclaan) Amend Resolution 20-028 by adding new language in Rule 12 — Social Distancing starting as the second sentence that reads, "The City of Seward mandates that all persons over the age of two are required to wear some form of covering over their nose and mouth, such as a homemade mask, scarf, bandana, or handkerchief, when entering into or inside of any building open to the public, when using public transportation, taxis, or ride shares, or mai City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes April 15, 2020 Volume 41,Page 147 when pumping gas. It is also strongly encouraged that those engaging in an outside physical activity wear a facial covering if they are unable to keep a distance of six feet or greater from others who are not in their own shelter group, which includes household members. This section shall not apply to persons that are riding in a personal vehicle, that are alone in a separate single space, that are with their own shelter group/household members, when doing so also poses a greater health, safety, or security risk, or for consumption purposes." Crites said she and Baclaan had been working on revised language to bring forward since Monday night's council meeting in order to address everyone's concerns about the restrictive nature of the mandate,but still trying to protecting the public.Baclaan added that much of the language had been pulled from what other municipalities had done. In response to Butts, Baclaan said he would welcome input from the city attorney for guidance on language related to enforcement. City Attorney Holly Wells said Seward's city code included a provision to enforce the mandated rules under the Emergency Operations Plan; other communities were required to pass an emergency ordinance allowing them to enforce the mandates. Wells went on to say the manner in which the amendments were made to this resolution were not in compliance with the Emergency Operations Plan;instead,if council wished to set mandates,council would have to bring forward a separate resolution. Meszaros said these temporary rules had been written under his authority,which prohibited him from going beyond the governor's mandates. So in order to include council's face covering mandate under these rules, he suggested creating a separate section and notating it as a council provision. Terry stated that it was her understanding that the attorney was now informing council that they did not have the authority to make amendments to this resolution.Wells confirmed.Osenga was confused and asked for clarification about whether council was able to amend the resolution that they already amended once. Wells said the city manager,under these emergency circumstances,had the authority to promulgate rules which later came to council for ratification; council also had the authority to promulgate rules,but separately and as regular council business. Wells said if council really wanted to add a face covering mandate tonight,one option would be to amend the title of the resolution to both confirm the revisions set forth by the city manager as presented, as well as to create a new council rule to require masks in public places. McClure said, based on the attorney's input, it sounded like council needed to fail this amendment, pass the resolution as originally presented,and then take up the matter of council imposing rules at another City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes April 15, 2020 Volume 41, Page 148 time. Terry said, with the new information received tonight, she would be voting against this amendment. Motion to Amend Failed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Crites/) Amend Resolution 20-028 in the title by adding the following words at the end, "...and promulgating City Council Emergency COVID-19 Rule #1 requiring face coverings in public locations within the city." and adding a new Section that reads, "The City Council hereby promulgates Emergency COVID-19 Rule#1 mandating that all persons over the age of two are required to wear some form of covering over their nose and mouth, such as a homemade mask, scarf, bandana, or handkerchief,when entering into or inside of any building open to the public, when using public transportation, taxis, or ride shares, or when pumping gas. It is also strongly encouraged that those engaging in an outside physical activity wear a facial covering if they are unable to keep a mai distance of six feet or greater from others who are not in their own shelter group, which includes household members. This section shall not apply to persons that are riding in a personal vehicle, that are alone in a separate single space, that are with their own shelter group/household members, when doing so also poses a greater health, safety, or security risk, or for consumption purposes." Motion died for lack of second. Baclaan said he didn't offer a second to the amendment because he preferred to work with Crites to develop a separate resolution to bring back. Crites was concerned that the more time that went by,the longer the public would be at risk. Main Motion Passed Unanimous Clerk's Note:At tonight's meeting, the city attorney stated that council did not have the authority to City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes April 15,2020 Volume 41,Page 149 make amendments to the rules promulgated by the city manager. Therefore, the amendments made to the rules at the April 13, 2020 council meeting, which in turn prompted the reconsideration of the resolution at tonight's meeting, were not lawful. In order to remedy the unauthorized amendments from April 13, 2020, the resolution should have been brought forward under a motion to rescind rather than a motion to reconsider,so that the original action would effectively be canceled.Instead, the motion to reconsider, and then the subsequent amendments made tonight to undo the amendments made at the previous meeting, only served to compound the unauthorized action. The actions taken by council tonight were performed under advice of the city attorney. CITIZEN COMMENTS—None COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS & RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Meszaros thanked council and said there were a lot of communities that were struggling with similar issues. He believed the intention was good and applauded council's efforts. Osenga thanked Crites and Baclaan on their work;he believed this issue would be addressed in the future. Butts thanked Baclaan and Crites for their work; he reminded everyone that the original concern was brought forward by a front-line healthcare worker.He asked everyone to use common sense and look after one another. Seese wondered how quickly a resolution could be brought forward.Wells responded that she would make herself available to work on it.Seese was concerned with how such a mandate could be enforced. Baclaan thanked Crites for working with him on the language.He believed at this time that the city needed strong legal advice.He wished everyone would be kind and courteous to each other. Baclaan was willing to continue working on this topic. Crites thanked Baclaan for his help. She thanked all the citizens for their emails and comments.Crites believed that everyone was doing a good job in town,but had concerns about how things would be with increased summer activity. McClure had spoken to a lot of citizens about this subject and heard their concerns. She wanted to make sure that, following this meeting,the citizens understood that face coverings were not mandated in Seward in order to mitigate confusion. She was confident that there would be a balance struck in the future. Terry recognized the community's fears about COVID-19, and reassured those most outspoken that council's intention was not to strip anyone of their civil liberties or institute government overreach;between Monday night's council meeting and now, she had been met with City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes April 15,2020 Volume 41,Page 150 anger and hatred from many citizens. She asked everyone to demonstrate peace and kindness with each other going forward. Wells clarified that the city's emergency rules automaticallyencompassed the state's tY g Y p mandates; State Mandates 10, 11,and 12 all had specific fines and penalties associated with them. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m. renda J. al u, MMC sty Terry City Clerk Mayor .••• OF SEtyq�. (City Sea*� ••••PD•••• • 41.% • • SEAL ,`• • r �ti•, F OF A`�P.•••