LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday chose to continue meetings that allow for limited in-person participation by the public despite an increase in COVID-19 cases, while the county’s two cities plan to continue to do business virtually because of health concerns.
On June 30, after a three-month suspension of in-person board meetings, the supervisors returned to a remodeled board chambers to begin a “hybrid” version of its meetings.
The public can still watch online or participate via Zoom, however, small numbers of individuals are allowed to come into the chambers to give public comment or view the proceedings.
The chambers now include plexiglass cubicles around each of the fives supervisors’ seats on the dais and around staff seating area, with the seating in the audience removed and replaced by a maximum of 25 chairs that adhere to social distancing requirements.
Last week, the county also implemented a new eComment platform to take public comments.
On June 30, Lake County’s confirmed COVID-19 cases totaled 60. On Tuesday, they reached 122. In the weeks since, Lake County Public Health has also reported the first death of a county resident attributed to COVID-19.
Board Chair Moke Simon had asked last week that a discussion of the meeting procedures be placed on the Tuesday agenda.
He suggested that, in light of the rising cases, the meetings should be closed again to in-person participation out of concern that they had opened up too early.
Simon and Supervisor Tina Scott were not in the board chambers for the meeting, but both participated from their homes via Zoom.
On the dais in the chambers were Rob Brown, who was not wearing a mask because he said he can’t, and EJ Crandell and Bruno Sabatier, both of whom were masked. All of them were separated by the plexiglass dividers.
Simon said he wanted to be proactive instead of reactive, and citing the recent rise in COVID-19 numbers he suggested closing the meetings and reviewing the situation in 30 days.
Sabatier noted that the July 7 meeting and Tuesday’s meeting both had about half a dozen people in the audience, with a good-sized crowd still participating online. He said some people don’t have access to watch on the Internet.
“If it’s not safe for us, it’s not safe for our employees,” said Sabatier, noting that if it’s not safe for in-person meetings, they should go all the way and say no one should be there.
He said he thought the hybrid model is working fine.
Simon said his concern was that they can’t control where people who come into the meetings have been.
Brown said people should do whatever they’re comfortable with and leave the meetings in their current form as an option.
“I feel safe here,” he said, adding that not all employees have the opportunity to work at home.
Scott had previously attended one of the hybrid meetings in person but returned to participating from home.
“It was difficult for me to be in there and watch a screen across the room,” Scott said.
Like Brown and Sabatier, she felt the meeting format is working and that they can continue to monitor how they are working.
Crandell said he was good with either continuing the meetings or taking Simon’s suggestion.
The only public comment came from Lakeport resident Michael Green.
“This is just very unfortunate,” said Green, criticizing the board for “terrible messaging” and noncompliance with the health order, with half of them masked.
Green suggested they’re broadcasting noncompliance with state orders in their meetings while conceivably putting themselves at risk.
“You’re supposed to provide a safe meeting space and enforce social distancing and you can’t even enforce social distancing on the dais,” he said.
Neither Simon nor any of the other supervisors offered a motion, as the consensus was to continue the hybrid meetings.
City councils to continue virtual meetings
While the supervisors have allowed the public to be in the board chambers for meetings, the city councils of Clearlake and Lakeport are continuing to only allow public participation virtually because of health concerns.
The Clearlake City Council’s members have primarily been in the council chambers for meetings, with council members and staff sitting several feet apart and the chambers closed to the public.
The city has a new Open Town Hall page on its website so community members can submit comments and meetings are broadcast on the PEG TV Youtube page.
City Manager Alan Flora had reported previously that there were plans to begin allowing for limited public access to City Hall for the meetings beginning this week.
However, he told Lake County News on Tuesday, “We are going to walk back having the public at our meetings starting Thursday. We did notice a couple of appeal hearings and so we will be allowing them to come into the meeting after a screening process and with masking, social distancing etc. Otherwise we will be continuing with the remote public input process utilized over the past several months.”
The Lakeport City Council has not met in the chambers but continues to meet via the GoToMeeting platform, with the public allowed to call in or ask comments virtually.
City Manager Margaret Silveira said Tuesday that format will continue.
“We are not planning on having in-person attendance for the public at this time. We have discussed having in-person for the council members, which can be seated with social distancing. We are awaiting the arrival of technical equipment to make that possible,” Silveira said.
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Supervisors to continue in-person meeting participation; city councils still offer virtual attendance
- Elizabeth Larson
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