[0:00] I call the March 17, 2020 special meeting of the Modak County's Board of Supervisors to

[0:14] order. Please silence all electronic devices. Supervisor Collins, will you lead us in the

[0:21] pledge of allegiance?

[0:22] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which

[0:33] it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:40] Thank you.

[0:42] Pastor McCurry, our moment of prayer, please.

[0:48] Dear Lord Jesus, we just come before you right now.

[0:52] Lord, the decisions that are being made across your country, Lord, we just pray for godly

[0:59] wisdom in all the various venues that are making decisions to keep our citizens safe.

[1:07] Lord, we pray that we would use faith instead of fear, wisdom instead of worry, and prayer

[1:18] instead of panic as we deal with the issue of this unseen bug that's doing so much devastation

[1:25] across our world and disrupting life as we know it.

[1:30] But Lord, we know that we can count on you to help us to assist us.

[1:36] And Lord, we just pray your protection over our town, our county, our country, our state,

[1:44] our world.

[1:45] And Lord, we just pray that you would just give wisdom to those in leadership above

[1:50] us to do the right things to protect our citizens.

[1:55] And Lord, may we just take this time and opportunity, Lord, is just to draw close to

[2:02] you, Lord.

[2:03] You are the source of all healing, of all hope, of all health.

[2:08] And so, Lord, when we don't know what to do, Lord, we turn to you.

[2:12] So we're turning to you right now.

[2:14] Give our supervisors divine wisdom, Lord, in how to handle the situation in our county.

[2:20] And Lord, we pray as special shield of protection around Warner View, around our senior citizens

[2:27] in our community.

[2:28] Keep them safe, Lord, from this virus that they're so susceptible to.

[2:35] And we just ask that in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

[2:38] Amen.

[2:39] Amen.

[2:40] Thank you, Clarence.

[2:42] Thank you.

[2:44] Public comment.

[2:51] This is the time set aside for citizens to address the board on matters on the consent agenda and

[2:58] matters not otherwise on the agenda.

[3:00] Comments should be limited to matters within the jurisdiction of the board.

[3:05] If your comment concerns an item shown on the agenda, please address the board after

[3:10] that item is open for public comment.

[3:13] By law, the board cannot take action on matters that are not on the agenda unless otherwise

[3:19] announced, the chair reserves the right to limit the duration of each speaker to three

[3:24] minutes.

[3:25] Speaker may not cede their time.

[3:28] Agenda items with times listed will be considered at that time.

[3:33] All other items will be considered as listed on the agenda or as deemed necessary by

[3:38] the chair.

[3:39] Are there any public comments?

[3:42] Hearing none, any additions or deletions to our agenda?

[3:49] Moves to approve.

[3:51] Second.

[3:52] We have a motion and a second.

[3:55] Any further discussion from the board?

[3:58] The public, all in favor?

[4:00] Aye.

[4:01] Any opposed?

[4:02] No abstention?

[4:03] Motion carries.

[4:05] Item one, health services 1A, consideration action, requesting approval to ratify a

[4:11] resolution to proclaim a local public health emergency due to the threat of

[4:16] COVID-19.

[4:17] Good afternoon, Stacey Sparr, interim director of health services.

[4:21] I'm here on behalf of our local health officer, Edward P.

[4:25] Rickert.

[4:26] This is a request for the MoDOT County Board of Supervisors to ratify the

[4:30] proclamation of the local health emergency that was declared by the

[4:34] MoDOT County Health Officer, Dr. Rickert on 312, 2020.

[4:38] On March 12th, the county health officer declared a local health

[4:43] emergency for MoDOT County.

[4:45] This declaration was in accordance to the California Health and Safety Code.

[4:49] And this was declared in response to immediate imminent threat to the

[4:54] induction of an infectious agent into our county known as the novel

[4:58] coronavirus or also known as COVID-19.

[5:03] This virus is considered to be a serious public health threat.

[5:07] Although we have no confirmed cases that have been identified in MoDOT

[5:11] County, Dr. Rickert anticipates cases of coronavirus or COVID-19 in MoDOT

[5:17] County in the immediate future.

[5:19] This declaring of this local emergency will enhance the county's

[5:24] ability to prepare and respond when cases are identified.

[5:28] And this declaration of the local health emergency also gives the MoDOT

[5:32] County Public Health Officer some additional legal authorities to

[5:36] protect the health of the communities within MoDOT County and to

[5:39] obtain additional resources in order for us to respond to this

[5:43] novel coronavirus.

[5:47] We began our efforts in addressing the novel coronavirus about a

[5:52] month ago where we opened our DOC on March 16th.

[5:56] We found that our resources were being exceeded at public

[5:59] health, so we have rolled into the EOC and a joint unified

[6:02] command system with me as the IC representing Dr. Rickert as his

[6:07] designee and the sheriff, Tex Dowdy.

[6:10] And since then, we have been planning and rolling out different

[6:15] guidances throughout the county in order to protect the people of our

[6:19] county, the health and the safety.

[6:22] I'm going to say just for the public's IC is Incident

[6:27] Commanders at Christ.

[6:28] Yes.

[6:29] Sorry about the acronyms.

[6:30] No problem.

[6:32] Motion to approve.

[6:33] Second.

[6:34] We have a motion and a second.

[6:37] Any further discussion or questions from the board?

[6:41] I just have a question.

[6:42] So are you currently recommending groups of 25 or groups of 10

[6:45] after yesterday's press conference?

[6:47] We're reviewing the guidance that was given out by the

[6:50] governor and we're seeing what's really applicable to our

[6:52] county.

[6:53] The executive order that was put out is really giving the

[6:57] local officials the authority to roll out the guidance as it

[7:00] meets the needs of our community.

[7:01] We don't have any cases, but we are looking at guidance to

[7:04] make sure we're protecting the public health, but we're also

[7:07] not harming businesses and such.

[7:09] So we're working through that unified command system to make

[7:12] those decisions.

[7:13] Any other questions or discussion?

[7:21] Any discussion from the public?

[7:26] All in favor?

[7:30] Aye.

[7:31] Any opposed?

[7:32] No abstention?

[7:33] Motion carries.

[7:34] Thank you.

[7:36] Item two, sheriff 2A consideration action requesting approval to

[7:41] ratify a resolution to proclaim a local emergency due to the

[7:45] threat of COVID-19.

[7:48] Good afternoon.

[7:49] Texas County Sheriff and Office of Emergency Services

[7:52] Director.

[7:54] As all of you know with the coronavirus going around that we

[7:59] are taking this extremely serious.

[8:01] And on March 12th, 2020, I declared a local emergency because

[8:05] of the impact of COVID-19 was having on our community.

[8:09] Although COVID-19, we have no cases of COVID-19 in our

[8:13] community.

[8:14] Currently, we are quickly exhausting our resources.

[8:16] As you know, our threshold is very, very low.

[8:21] This crisis is predicted to last for several months.

[8:24] And we are extremely concerned that without financial support from

[8:27] the state and federal government, it has the potential to

[8:30] cripple our county for years to come.

[8:32] Therefore, I'm asking you today to ratify this emergency

[8:36] declaration.

[8:39] Motion to approve.

[8:40] Second.

[8:42] We have a motion and a second.

[8:45] Any further discussion from the board?

[8:49] On the public.

[8:51] All in favor.

[8:52] Aye.

[8:53] Any opposed?

[8:54] No abstention.

[8:55] Motion carries.

[9:00] Item 3, Board of Supervisors, 3A, consideration action

[9:04] requesting approval of a resolution establishing interim

[9:08] personnel policies related to COVID-19.

[9:12] Chester Robertson, Modoc County Administrative Officer.

[9:15] So as a result of these declarations, they will

[9:18] have an impact on our county staff.

[9:20] And we need to address our personnel policies to be able

[9:23] to address those potential impacts.

[9:26] There are seven elements of this interim policies.

[9:29] These are based on review by County Council,

[9:31] the Chair, Vice Chair, Administration,

[9:33] and based on samples that we reviewed in the

[9:35] member of other agencies and tailored to meet some

[9:38] of our local needs.

[9:39] The first aspect of this will allow the

[9:43] department heads with the approval of the administrative

[9:46] office with the enable employees if we need to

[9:49] to have employees work remotely.

[9:51] Again, the authorizations, examples of why we can't

[9:54] just have everybody while we hear that happen

[9:56] in other locations.

[9:57] There's resource constraints to our community.

[10:00] For instance, we're working to address resource

[10:02] constraints for information technology.

[10:04] It's not possible that we can have all people

[10:06] remotely.

[10:07] Some departments in order to provide the central

[10:09] public service, they have to occur at our

[10:12] place of business.

[10:13] We will identify as those requests come if it becomes

[10:16] necessary on a case-by-case basis and also be

[10:19] communicating with the incident command structure.

[10:22] The second one aspect of this resolution,

[10:25] it allows employees that are exposed to the

[10:27] COVID-19 virus.

[10:29] It addresses the volunteer quarantine and it

[10:32] addresses the approval process for documentation

[10:35] and it addresses that this becomes the

[10:38] appropriate leave balances that could be utilized

[10:40] for that.

[10:41] The third one addresses the impacts that we're

[10:43] already seeing.

[10:44] For instance, employees who have minor children

[10:46] who are unable to attend school due to illness,

[10:49] quarantine, school closures of COVID-19 or can't

[10:52] find childcare arrangements as a result of

[10:54] other impacts external to the county.

[10:56] That enables them to have methods to work

[10:59] remotely or to use sick leave or other forms

[11:03] of leave balances.

[11:05] And we will work on having appropriate forms

[11:07] work in our county council that would address

[11:10] the documentation that would occur with that.

[11:12] And we also have talked with the auditor's office.

[11:15] This fourth element of this resolution would

[11:18] allow for the advancement of leave balances for

[11:20] employees that do not have sufficient leave in

[11:23] the event that they have quarantine.

[11:25] It allows for them with those advance of those

[11:28] leave accrual balances.

[11:30] It makes provisions for having an agreement

[11:32] between the employee and the county and

[11:34] provision for repayment of those balances

[11:36] over a period of time and or at the time

[11:39] of separation of employment.

[11:43] It also provides some other elements

[11:46] related to medical certification.

[11:48] It's the fifth element of there.

[11:50] It also places the timeline for this resolution.

[11:53] These are good for 30 days and less renewed

[11:55] or modified by the board at a subsequent action.

[11:59] And then it makes provisions for us

[12:01] in our addressing this with the labor unions

[12:04] in order to effectively correspond.

[12:07] Thank you.

[12:10] Motion to approve.

[12:12] Second.

[12:18] So just just one brief additional comment

[12:21] on item three which deals with

[12:25] minor children at home.

[12:28] There again it references section one that

[12:31] those have to be approved by department head

[12:34] and by the administration.

[12:40] Any discussion from the board?

[12:43] From the public?

[12:45] Hearing none, all in favor?

[12:47] Aye.

[12:48] Any opposed?

[12:50] Any abstention?

[12:51] Motion carries.

[12:52] Thank you.

[12:53] We will work to roll those out to department heads tomorrow.

[12:55] Motion to adjourn.

[12:57] Before we go, I would just like to thank everybody

[13:02] that's involved in these resolutions

[13:04] and declaring an emergency.

[13:06] Thank you for all your hard work.

[13:08] This has been a basically a mud puddle

[13:11] changing minute by minute.

[13:13] And you all have kept us pretty well in form.

[13:15] Thank you.

[13:17] I want to mention that really quick.

[13:19] I would like to

[13:21] enhance that by stating

[13:23] and thanking our federal and state members

[13:25] that are also working very closely

[13:28] on this and on the ICF system.

[13:45] To just elaborate on what Sheriff just said,

[13:49] the CAL FIRE and U.S. Forest Service

[13:52] are providing personnel

[13:54] on the incident command structure

[13:57] to assist as is.

[14:01] OES and Robert, I did not catch your name

[14:04] or last name earlier today.

[14:06] Robert will work just fine.

[14:09] With CAL OES.

[14:12] So even though I'm getting this, I have a question

[14:14] that maybe someone here can answer.

[14:15] As people come to us in the community

[14:17] or are having problems with their businesses

[14:18] because of this,

[14:19] is there someone in the county

[14:20] who they should go see?

[14:22] So we'll actually have information coming to you guys tonight

[14:25] and we want to actually do a business leave

[14:27] on Rose for a lot of police things.

[14:29] She's reaching out to businesses

[14:31] and there's some funding that's going to come available

[14:33] probably to be passed today.

[14:35] Okay.

[14:36] Or employees out of work

[14:37] would not be the same thing.

[14:39] For the owners and for the employees.

[14:42] Okay.

[14:43] So in a lot of programs,

[14:44] they're all getting pulled out.

[14:46] So we can get them on this

[14:48] and get them on the project.

[14:50] You guys will get a summary

[14:52] and we'll actually do that every day.

[14:54] Thank you.

[14:55] Thank you.

[14:57] So before I use the gavel,

[14:59] I'd like to ask you...

[15:00] To maybe just speak briefly about what the plan is for informing the public as things,

[15:06] new information such as this is shared with the public and the board, those that have not been involved.

[15:13] We opened up our public phone line today. It's 233-1350. It's on both public health

[15:23] and Sheriff's Office Facebook so people can call in and we can point them in the right direction

[15:28] for resources. We're really trying to tie into the senior population and get them on a list

[15:33] especially if they're self-isolating so that we can check in on them and make sure they're getting

[15:38] everything they can and help them if they need prescriptions picked up or they can get signed up

[15:42] for the meals delivered from the senior center. We're working closely with our partners at Teach

[15:47] to make sure they're not overloaded with all of this too and make sure their resources are all there.

[15:54] We'll have posts every day on our Facebook page and on our website there's a red bar underneath

[16:00] the picture that has an alert that will link you to all the county admin page, public health,

[16:07] our Facebook page and everywhere we're posting. We're encouraging people to share our posts

[16:13] so that factual information is getting to people to keep the rumors at bay.

[16:18] And then we'll have stuff in the paper and on the radio as well.

[16:22] And we're sending flyers out in the deliveries tomorrow for food deliveries to the seniors

[16:27] to catch those people that don't do social media or might not have a paper subscription.

[16:33] My sister in law, Elizabeth Bay Area, got a test because they closed down,

[16:39] they basically house arrested everybody down there. Do we have that,

[16:44] if things were to turn really bad, do we have that capability?

[16:47] We do, so we use Code Red for our warning alert system and there's a, on our website,

[16:52] they can sign up for that. They do have to sign up for that, but if they have a landline

[16:55] they would automatically get that for reverse 911. We're not there yet, so we're not,

[17:01] but if we need to use it, it's there.

[17:06] The daily planning and community meeting.

[17:10] There is a cooperators meeting, a cooperators and a community meeting at 10 o'clock every day

[17:15] at the Vets Hall. If anybody wants to come, we go over kind of what we're working on

[17:20] and we take all the concerns at that time so we can come back and work on them at the EOC.

[17:25] So there's representatives from the business, businesses, hospitals, every,

[17:31] it's the whole county at this point. We've had amazing participation

[17:36] and offers of help and it's, we're really lucky that we all get along

[17:41] and can work together and collaborate because we really need to right now.

[17:48] Anything else? Hearing none, meeting adjourned. Thank you.

Board of Supervisors Special Meeting

Transcript