Memorandum
Date: July 14, 2020
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Moke Simon, Chair, District 1 Supervisor
Subject: Consideration of Closing the Board of Supervisors Chambers for in-person meetings
Executive Summary: (include fiscal and staffing impact narrative):
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Lake County and throughout California. As visible community leaders, it is our Board’s responsibility to model appropriate caution for local residents and businesses. You will recall we reopened our Board Chambers to the public Tuesday, June 30. At the time that decision was made, we sat at 41 total cases, and only 7 were active. Regional viral activity was starting to accelerate, but had not yet reached present concerning levels. Unfortunately, things have changed.
Allowing members of the public in the Board Chambers invites the kind of large gatherings we are seeking to avoid, in order to slow the spread of the virus. It has been obvious that most people remain more comfortable participating remotely; during our June 23 and June 30 meetings, an unduplicated count of just two individuals have attended in person, while well over 100 participated in zoom.
I believe we were premature in reopening. Continuing to host hybrid meetings, with some people on-site, has the potential to place members of the public, our employees and ourselves at unnecessary and avoidable risk of contracting the virus.
On July 6, the California State Capitol was closed, and the Legislature has been indefinitely delayed, following an Assemblymember testing positive for the virus. Rather than waiting for someone to test positive as a result of attending one of our meetings, we should be proactive and close our Chambers until conditions improve.
Of course, our meetings would continue to be accessible in ZOOM, for all who want to directly participate, and via Facebook, Granicus and on PEG Channel 8, for those that prefer to view only. Members of the public with no internet access can call in to participate or listen via ZOOM. Bottom line, we can make the public’s business very accessible to the public, without creating unnecessary public health risk. In my opinion, that’s exactly what we should do.
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Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
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☒ Well-being of Residents ☒ Public Safety ☐ Infrastructure ☐ Technology Upgrades
☐ Economic Development ☒ Disaster Recovery ☒ County Workforce ☐ Revenue Generation
☒ Community Collaboration ☐ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake ☐ Cost Savings
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By motion, take action to close the Board of Supervisors Chambers for in-person meetings effective with our July 21, 2020 meeting, with said closure to be re-evaluated every thirty days.