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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07012020 City Council Special Meeting Minutes City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1,2020 Volume 41,Page 213 CALL TO ORDER The July 1,2020 special meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 5:30 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) John Osenga(telephonically) Tony Baclaan 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. Unless otherwise noted, the following Citizen Comments were submitted in advance and read into the record by the City Clerk: Lynda Paquette said it was the government's responsibility to protect the natural rights of its citizens,manage economic conditions, and prevent externality. Paquette believed that council had failed the community completely and was governing by friendship and putting money ahead of lives. Fernando Salvador worked for Pursuit and said,in response to the recent outbreak,they had temporarily suspended Kenai Fjords Tours and Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge operations,and had also delayed the July 1s`opening of the Resurrection Roadhouse to July 8, 2020. Dianne Dubuc wanted council to consider amended the Emergency Ordinance so that it wouldn't interfere with or limit charter fishing operations. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1, 2020 Volume 41, Page 214 APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (McClure/Baclaan) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous There were no consent agenda items. PUBLIC HEARINGS Emergency Ordinance 2020-008,Temporarily Adopting City Council Emergency Regulations Ordering The Closure Of City-Owned Campgrounds,Prohibiting Gatherings Of More Than 20 Persons, Requiring Facial Coverings Inside Buildings Open To The Public,And Limiting Eating Establishments,Bars,And Retail Stores To 50%Capacity Indoors In Response To The Rapid Increase In COVID-19 Cases Within The City Of Seward. Motion (McClure/Baclaan) Enact Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 Terry said there was great potential at this juncture to declare a Code Orange Alert,but this ordinance was instead an effort to prevent all non-essential businesses from having to close down. She commended the Seward businesses who had quickly taken proactive measures to voluntarily close their doors to mitigate the spread of the virus. McClure said this was not calling for a Code Orange Alert — this measure was in lieu of declaring a Code Orange. Terry added that the duration of this ordinance would be 30 days. If this ordinance was enacted, it would not prohibit the city manager from bringing forward a Code Orange Alert, if the circumstances required. McClure stressed that council was not discussing shutting down any businesses with this ordinance. Notice of the public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. Dr.Carolyn Roloff was a Pediatrician who spoke in favor of wearing masks to mitigate the spread of the virus, and said wearing masks did not reduce an individual's oxygen saturation to a harmful level. Sandy Simons was in favor of requiring facial coverings in public buildings. Jenn Appel believed it was a person's choice,and not government's role,to determine how much risk to undertake regarding the virus. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1,2020 Volume 41,Page 215 Council suspended the rules to speak with the following medical officials who were on the phone: Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joe McLaughlin, State Epidemiologist, and Leslie Felts, Public Health Nurse Manager. In response to Osenga,Felts said Seward had approximately 30 cases since June 21, 2020. Following up, Felts said that number included residents as well as non-residents. In response to Crites,Dr.Zink said the CDC recommended masks for children over 2 years old. Dr. McLaughlin concurred. In response to Crites,Dr.Zink said she appreciated Seward's proactive response to the recent outbreak.Dr.Zink added that the guidelines for mitigating the spread of the virus were simple:stay 6 feet apart, keep your circle small, wear a mask, wash your hands, etc.; she added that the implementation of these guidelines for many businesses was where the challenge lay. Due to the varying nature of environments between retail stores, restaurants, and bars, it was difficult to determine the best capacity to allow. Dr. Zink said it came down to evaluating distance,space,and time. Dr. McLaughlin said the rule of thumb was if a minimum distance of six feet could not be maintained for at least 15 minutes, that would be considered a high risk contact. In response to Terry,Dr.Zink said there had been seven cases that resulted from bar contacts; bars were inherently a high risk environment because people were close together and did not wear masks.Dr.McLaughlin added that the CDC guidance for restaurants and bars used a four-point scale to indicate the relative level of risk. Meszaros and Terry thanked the medical professionals for being on the phone and for their input. Dr.Zink said she understood how frustrating the situation could be because the virus spread easily and was incredibly contagious. She encouraged broad testing, thought there was a balance between economy and health, and said following the simple steps could help mitigate the disease. Dr.McLaughlin appreciated being able to speak during the meeting and thanked council for the invite;he was happy to come back. Council went back on the rules and resumed the public hearing testimony. Lori Landstrom was a local healthcare provider and she supported the ordinance. She recommended the age for wearing face masks be lowered to 4 years old. She also requested that all indoor dining be closed for at least 7 days. Mareth Griffith supported the ordinance,but was concerned that some employees lived in the campgrounds, so they should not be kicked out. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1, 2020 Volume 41,Page 216 Angela Hammer thought that the emergency caused by the virus had expired long ago;she thought we were in a recovery or rebuilding phase.She believed the city was fraudulent in calling the current situation an emergency and wanted to see the legal citation for justifying it. Bruce Sledge thought that social distancing and mask wearing were effective measures for mitigating the spread of the virus. He also believed there could be a satisfactory compromise identified for individuals to wear masks while carrying concealed in order to protect their Second Amendment rights. Dr.Tim Mullet thought council had allowed the local outbreak to happen with their inaction to shut down the city. Alex Von Tolmaysee worked at Safeway and thought many people were conscientious and wore masks voluntarily. He did not believe the government should be mandating this action. Kenneth Federico did not think campgrounds needed to be closed because distancing could be observed. Sarah Breuckner thought the citizens of Seward did not need to be mandated and that the impact would be detrimental to business. Doyle Breuckner thought the ordinance would stifle the local economy. He believed that protecting one's health was a personal freedom and that the pandemic was overblown because there had been no hospitalized patients. Margaret Minkin said the CDC recommended wearing cloth face coverings to reduce the spread of COVID-19. She supported the ordinance. MaryLynn Barnwell supported the ordinance and had been dismayed with the lack of safety measures taken by visitors in town.She believed passing the ordinance would help support business owners who wished to require masks in their businesses. Robert Thomas did not think the campgrounds needed to be closed,but the bars should be because they were the cause of the recent outbreak. Craig & Kate Turnbull supported the ordinance and wished to see the age for face coverings drop from 12 years old to four years old. William&Allyson Pike did not support the ordinance.They didn't believe that walking past someone in Safeway would cause exposure. Kevin Lane thought that closing the campgrounds was going overboard. He supported wearing face masks and limiting indoor dining. Tamara Filipovic supported the ordinance. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1,2020 Volume 41,Page 217 Carol Griswold was concerned about closing the campgrounds and thought people would just camp anywhere they wanted, regardless. She supported the face covering portion of the ordinance. Chris Danzl did not want the town to close.Although he didn't believe in wearing masks,he had started wearing them to make others feel safe. Carol Souza thought bars and restaurants should not be open, and wanted masks to be mandated. Jillian Ryan wanted face masks to be mandatory. CJ Rae appreciated all the efforts being made throughout the community to keep people safe and healthy. She wished that masks be mandated in grocery stores and the post office, and that the required age be lowered. Tara Reimer thanked council for their service and hard work. The Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC)had self-limited to allowing visitors at 15%capacity and were requiring staff distancing and masking. She requested that workers be allowed to stay in the campground; she believed that campgrounds were safe at 50%capacity. Brenan Horseth supported the ordinance. He thought the age limit for masks could be dropped lower than 12 years old. Mark Kulstad thought the ordinance was an overreaction to the circumstances and could be detrimental to the economy of the city. He expected council to take responsibility for their decisions, whether right or wrong. Nate Smith was concerned that the ordinance was a knee-jerk reaction to the current situation. He believed that local businesses were already doing the right thing. Mark Kansteiner was in favor of requiring face masks in public places.He thought closing the campgrounds was not necessary,but keeping them open at 50%capacity would be good. David Paperman appreciated the local businesses who have taken proactive measures. He agreed with allowing 50%occupancy in the campgrounds. Suzi Towsley thought it was the duty of council to protect its citizens. She wished that employees staying in the campgrounds be allowed to stay. Clare Sullivan wondered if limiting indoor capacity would be in conjunction with distancing and masking. Council recessed at 7:10 p.m. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1, 2020 Volume 41,Page 218 Council resumed at 7:15 p.m. Dana Paperman was concerned with protecting the lives of the community's elders, and didn't want to lose anyone to the virus. CarolAnn Lindsey did not support closing the campgrounds, but did support all other aspects of the ordinance. Christine Werner opposed closing the campgrounds,and thought keeping at 50%capacity was sufficient. Blaine Sears thought the mask mandate would not be effective,nor did he believe closing the campgrounds was reasonable. He thought the number of hospitalizations and deaths should be factors in establishing mandates. Greer Etheridge supported closing the campgrounds in order to protect the community.She thought the demand for food and hygiene of campers would impair the community. Robert&Betty Hunt and Alice Chen supported the ordinance if the age limit was dropped for face masks, and the word"cloth"was removed. Virginia Randazzo appreciated everyone who was trying to help,and supported having the campgrounds opened to 50%capacity. She thanked the Chamber of Commerce for taking steps to protect the community by cancelling the Fourth of July activities. Stacey Werner disagreed with closing the campgrounds and mandating masks. She wanted to see decisions like tonight's ordinance being based on science and data. Kyle Walker supported the ordinance. Craig Ambrosiani from the Seward Community Health Center, Robert Rang from Providence Seward,and Brent Ursel from Glacier Family Medicine jointly supported the ordinance. They reported a delay in receiving testing results due to the increased number being submitted for processing.They requested for everything to be shut down for seven days in order to get a handle on the outbreak. Wendy Milligan said it was not council's job to protect the public's health and thought it was unethical for council to try to mandate these measures. She was concerned about all the contradictory information in the media about the virus and thought without consensus,there should be no policy put in place. Justine Pechuzal supported the ordinance. Tom Mudgett(did not answer the telephone) City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1,2020 Volume 41,Page 219 Margaret Anderson thought the ordinance was too restrictive because many businesses had already taken action on their own. No one else appeared and the public hearing was closed. Terry said council was doing their best to make this ordinance the best it could be. Baclaan wondered if there was a requirement to have an enforcement component for this ordinance.City Attorney Holly Wells said the courts generally wanted to see a fine provision.But, the Seward City Code already had a provision for a violation of an emergency rule that would allow for a citation to be issued for a court appearance,rather than a fine.In response to Terry,Wells said a citation would not have to be issued immediately,but rather only for a continued offense following education and counseling. McClure noted that this ordinance said"must"and not"mandated".In response,Wells said terms like"must"and"shall"had specific meanings and were law, even in a temporary ordinance such as this. Motion to Amend(Crites/Seese) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 2 by striking the words"twelve and under" and replacing with "under two". Crites said children over the age of two were able to remove a face mask on their own. Baclaan appreciated the CDC's recommendations, but thought perhaps four years old would be a good compromise. McClure concurred with Baclaan, as did Terry. Motion to Amend Failed Yes: Crites, Osenga No: Butts, Seese, McClure, Baclaan,Terry Motion to Amend (McClure/Baclaan) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 2 by striking the word"twelve"and replacing it with "four". Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (McClure/Terry) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 2 by striking the word"cloth". Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Terry clarified that this language applied to employees as well as visitors in buildings open to the public. Motion to Amend (Baclaan/Seese) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1, 2020 Volume 41, Page 220 Section 2 by adding the words "within rooms" before "...in buildings." Motion to Amend Failed Yes: Baclaan No: McClure,Butts,Crites,Seese,Osenga, Terry Terry asked if there were any other amendments for Section 2.Hearing none,Terry moved on to Section 3. Motion to Amend (Butts/Baclaan) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 3 in the first sentence by striking the word "closed" and replacing it with "not more than 50% capacity." In response to Baclaan, Parks&Recreation Director Tyler Florence said when every other camping space was closed,the capacity was at 50%. Florence said the reservation system worked on a rolling 30 day window. Motion to Amend Passed Yes:Baclaan,Osenga,McClure,Butts,Seese, Terry No: Crites Motion to Amend (Terry/McClure) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in ..r Section 3 in the second sentence so that it reads, "The City will not take additional reservations over 50% capacity." Terry said she had faith that administration would manage the reservations in order to accomplish this over time;she said she knew this couldn't be accomplished with the flip of a switch. Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Terry/McClure) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 3 in the third sentence by striking the words "essential," "critical infrastructure,"and"as defined in State of Alaska Public Health Mandates." Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Terry/McClure) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 3 in the third sentence by striking the word "may" and adding the words "Seward area" so that it reads, "City- ..r City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1, 2020 Volume 41, Page 221 owned campgrounds remain open for use by Seward area workers and employees. Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Council recessed at 8:36 p.m. Council resumed at 8:41 p.m. Motion to Amend (Baclaan/Seese) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 by striking Section 4. Baclaan was concerned that this Regulation would violate people's right to assemble.Wells said,on its face,this would not violate anyone's Constitutional rights. Baclaan remained concerned, and said he interpreted this as infringing on peoples' right to assemble.Wells said this was infringing on peoples' rights to assemble, but was not violating their Constitutional rights. Wells suggested including some language to allow for assembly. Baclaan stated that, regardless of the Constitutionality issue, he did not want to infringe on anyone's right to assemble. Motion to Amend Failed Yes: Baclaan No: Crites, McClure, Butts,Seese,Osenga, Terry Motion to Amend (Baclaan/Terry) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 4 by adding the following language at the end of the sentence,"and gatherings for the purpose of exercising Constitutional rights." Motion to Amend Passed Yes:Crites,McClure,Baclaan,Seese,Terry No: Butts, Osenga Motion to Amend (Terry/McClure) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 5 by adding the words "and all places of worship" following "ecotourism operations", and also by striking the last sentence. Terry wanted to make this amendment because there were many businesses in Seward that could safely have more than 60 people indoors. Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend (Baclaan/Seese) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 5 by striking the words "and i"" charters." City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1, 2020 Volume 41, Page 222 Baclaan thought fishing charters were an essential business because they enabled people to fill their freezers and should not be limited to half of their capacity. Terry wanted to make sure for the record that the intent of this amendment was to ensure that fishing charters were allowable and were not limited to 50% capacity. Motion to Amend Passed Yes: McClure,Seese,Baclaan,Butts,Terry No: Osenga, Crites Moving on to Section 6,Terry stated that the city manager was directed to draft Commentary related to this ordinance, in keeping with the stated wishes and intent of council. Regarding Section 8, Terry stated that the ordinance would be in effect for 30 days, and wondered if there would be any delay or advance notice to the public, or if it went into effect immediately. In response, Wells said tonight's public hearing was notice to the public. Baclaan thought 30 days was a long time for this to be in effect,and was concerned there was no review planned. Motion to Amend (Baclaan/) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 8 by striking the words"thirty(30) days" and replacing with the words "fourteen (14) days." The motion died for a lack of second. Motion to Amend (Seese/Crites) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 8 by striking the words"thirty(30) days" and replacing with the words "up to sixty (60) days." Seese said with this amendment, the ordinance could be repealed whenever it was appropriate. Wells said this may be too open-ended for the public because they may not know when the ordinance ended. The amendment was withdrawn with no objection from council. Motion to Amend (Baclaan/Seese) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in by requiring a review of the ordinance at the July 13, 2020 council meeting as a discussion item. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1,2020 Volume 41,Page 223 Osenga thought if someone on council thought this needed to be reviewed,they would have the option to add it to the agenda themselves. Crites concurred. Baclaan said his intent was to monitor how things were going under this ordinance. Terry said she thought that once this ordinance went into effect,it would become apparent if further action needed to be taken. Motion to Amend Failed Yes: Seese, Baclaan No: Butts,Crites, McClure, Osenga,Terry Terry asked council if anyone had any further comments or amendments. Wells spoke up and suggested clarifying when the ordinance went into effect. Motion to Amend (Terry/McClure) Amend Emergency Ordinance 2020-008 in Section 8 by striking the word "enacted" and replacing with the words "posted on the website." Motion to Amend Passed Unanimous Main Motion Passed Unanimous CITIZEN COMMENTS—None COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS & RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Meszaros wanted to provide updates relating to Code Orange Alert,and would provide those soon.Meszaros said there was,indeed,a state of emergency in place for the city,which was renewed every month. Meszaros stated Seward was one of the hotspots in the state, and he anticipated that there would be many more positive cases in the coming days. Wells wanted to review the metrics that would determine declaring an orange alert,and what the impact would be. The metrics include epidemiology, testing, public health capacity and healthcare capacity.If or when the city needed to declare a Code Orange Alert,the effect would be a roll back to hunker down where only the necessities were being done. Baclaan said when he ran for council, he never would have conceived that he would be regulating peoples' behavior. Baclaan understood first-hand how difficult it could be to enforce a mask mandate in a business; some people just would not comply. Osenga thanked everyone for all the comments.He thought this ordinance was a compromise instead of declaring a Code Orange. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 1, 2020 Volume 41,Page 224 Crites thanked everyone for their comments.She thanked council for hearing the concerns of the healthcare system. McClure agreed tonight was a compromise, short of moving to Code Orange. Terry thanked everyone for their patience. The action taken tonight did not close any businesses;although COVID was real,the citizens did not need the government to tell them what to do. This ordinance was the only thing council could do, short of moving to Code Orange. Terry observed that some people could be very mean; a lot of comments she had seen on Facebook were unkind, and she thought that was very unnecessary and hurtful. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:51 p.m. Brenda J. Ballou C hristy Te City Clerk Mayor l(City OF Seal�t►•`� SE�yq•., % s • SEAL ) •