— by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues reporter —
Both the County Council and the Board of Health met yesterday (July 15) to consider a recommendation from County Health officer Dr. Frank James to withdraw the County’s application to move to Phase 3 of the State’s Safe Start Washington plan. Following a vote by the Board of Health in favor of withdrawing the application, the Council opted to seek more information from the State before making a final decision.
The Council’s decision grew out of a perception that there was a need to better understand the impact of Governor Jay Inslee’s July 14 order extending the pause on Safe Start applications to July 28. The Governor’s order was issued after the Council’s regular meeting on the 14th, during which Mark Tompkins, the County’s Director of Health and Community Services had reported on recent discussions with the State about the status of the Phase 3 application. Tompkins said that with the issuance of the new order, it was uncertain whether the information that had been provided earlier was still valid.
Board of Health recommendation
The Board of Health is composed of seven members. These are the three elected county council members as well as four appointed members. The Board vote was 5 to 1 in favor of withdrawing the Phase 3 application, with one abstention.
All the appointed members (Chair Dale Heisinger, Noel Monin, Kyle Davies, and John Geyman) voted in favor of withdrawing the application. In sharing his reasoning for an affirmative vote, Geyman noted that 20 of the 24 public comments that had been received prior to the meeting were in favor of remaining in Phase 2 at this time. Rick Hughes also voted in favor of withdrawing the application. Jamie Stevens voted against and Bill Watson abstained.
Prior to the vote, Dr James shared his reasoning for recommending that the County withdraw its application. These include uncertainty about the source of the most recent cases in the county and the possibility that there has been community spread of the virus; the challenge of receiving timely testing results because national laboratories are currently overwhelmed by the dramatic increase in the number of cases around the country; and the local response team, including Dr. James himself, is overextended and needs to be able to have breaks to recoup from a workload that has been unceasing for several months. He also said that the current application was clearly out of date and would have to be revised in any case.
County Council decision
The County Council meeting began shortly after the Board of Health meeting adjourned. During the Council meeting, Bill Watson said that although he had chosen to abstain during the Board of Health meeting, he was ‘leaning towards’ a vote in support of withdrawing the application. He said that his decision to abstain was based on not wanting to vote on what would have essentially been a recommendation to himself as a Council member.
Jamie Stevens said that he preferred to let the application stand and have the State ‘tell us what needs to be updated or changed’ when the pause order is eventually lifted. He expressed his view that the current ending date of July 28 will probably be extended again. He added that in the same way that things have changed since the application was originally submitted, they are almost certainly going to change again before the pause order is lifted. In Stevens’s view, there ‘doesn’t seem to be any downside to letting it (the application) sit there.’
Rick Hughes was the last of the three to share his view. When Hughes voted in favor of withdrawing the application during the Board of Health meeting, he framed his vote as being ‘in favor of either withdrawing or pausing’ the application. The significance of this somewhat nuanced position became clearer during the Council meeting when Hughes raised the question of whether pausing the application was an option that the other Council members were willing to consider. Only two options had been considered by the Board of Health. Those were to either withdraw the application or to let it remain in place, pending future action by the State. After some consideration, both Stevens and Watson said that they supported waiting until next Tuesday to continue the discussion.
The Council asked Mark Tompkins to contact the State to seek clarification on what the County’s options are regarding the current application and provide a report at next Tuesday’s regular Council meeting.
Hughes later added that while he had voted in favor of withdrawing the application at the Board of Health meeting, the viewpoint expressed by Stevens had ‘given him pause’. He said that with the Governor’s order forestalling movement from one phase to the next until at least July 28, he felt there was no need to make an immediate decision and that the County was ‘in an okay place to see how the situation on the ground changes over the next couple of weeks.’
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Thank you Minor Lile and Orcas Issues for thorough coverage of the Council/Board votes and their meetings.
Too bad Jamie Stevens isn’t up for election this time around.
The CC should follow Dr. James’ very logical and reasoned recommendation. Dr. James has my utmost respect in these very difficult times.
Maybe we should begin to consider a recall campaign against Jamie Stephens. He clearly does not represent the great majority of SJC citizens who elected him.
I watched both the Board of Health meeting, and the following Council Meeting.
It was painful to see the twisting and turning the Council engaged in to not make any decision, to ignore the advice of the Board of Health (which they are on) and to ignore the advice of Dr. James.
I encourage folks to watch the video of the session.
Brian, I tried to find the Board of Health meeting video with no luck. Am finishing the Council meeting but if anyone can supply the Board of Health meeting video, I’d appreciate it. Thanks.
Let’s follow the science and Dr. James’ excellent and wise guidance. I urge the CC to do the right and vote to withdraw the application to move forward to Phase 3.
Dr. James is the voice of sanity. The fact that Council is not listening to him and abiding by his suggestions is scary, and also telling.
What continues to be the elephant in the living room is this idea that the old “normal” was ever working out except for a few profiteers. The “good old days” are based on a colonization model, and all of today’s problems are THE result of that; economic ruin, affordable housing shortages, deforestation which causes pandemics.
We’ve been shown the way to go in this pandemic in order to begin to restore the balance with ourselves, each other, and the earth. What are we waiting for? We can’t go “back” because the “good old days” weren’t good for most of humanity and life on the planet. We need a new (old, if you pay attention to First Nations worldwide) paradigm
It is the Health Department’s job to look at public health only. It is the County Council’s job to look at all implications. I applaud the council members for doing so and especially Mr. Stevens for his recommendation that not many considered. More information is needed (along with more clarification from the State as to the available options), so no point in making a rushed, emotional decision. Keeping the application on hold at the state level for as long as possible keeps all options on the table for ultimate control. Why give that up? Thank you Mr. Stevens for bringing that fact to light. You deserve much credit for that.
I was sorry to miss attending this meeting, and I did email my comments about withdrawing the proposal to move the Phase 3. I am not pleased with the decisions made by our County Council leadership as I feel it disregards the recommendations of our medical professionals, in service to our County’s residents health & wellbeing.
Does anyone think phase 3 will be appropriate for SJC by the end of July? Or August? Or September?
Thank you, Minor Lile and Orcas Issues for this coverage!
I would like a single one of any person who thinks we should go to phase 3 to wait tables for a day with your mask to protect them with on.. This is a joke.There is no control on travel. Locals are not coming out to eat because they are afraid of the travelers. The entire island I live on is full of people from everywhere but here. Come wait tables here, and have people breath in your face all night.. saying “You are fine” and “we dont care”. 1 table out of 10 that wears a mask….
“Does anyone think phase 3 will be appropriate for SJC by the end of July? Or August? Or September?”
Given the whack-a-mole conditions in Europe (see Barcelona, Leicester, Belgium all “relapsing”) and the comparatively pitiful, disorganized, contrarian response (see Gov of Georgia) here in the US it is impossible to believe that we’ll move forward at any time in the foreseeable future. And if we do, we’ll be forced to step back, probably repeatedly.
Regarding the Council’s decision to hold off pulling the Phase 3 application “until we know more”, that is just … charitably, nonsensical. Conditions on the ground have already changed so much as to render the application null. The pending application cannot simply be finessed to suit the Council’s desire as it no longer reflects the County Health Officer’s (or the Health Board’s) best judgement.
Perhaps it is time to widely publicize to tourists and 3 to a room vacation rental groups that medical emergencies on island require a fly off. Suggest they should check before coming that their insurance will cover this expense which is in excess of $10,000 in most cases.Might just slow the flow and/or make visitors more anxious to mask up….!
Just to amplify Sadie’s comets – Yes, please start looking at other ways of being, reeducate yourselves of the money/class/race nexus, human intelligence and its limits and the corrupt psychology of imperialism that has done so much to diminish out lives.
Doing these things will determine whether we are at the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning.
“Nuanced” decision, indeed. Isn’t ‘nuance’ French for weasel?
Alternate Headline:
Councilman Rick Hughes almost does the right thing
Seriously, that was the most baffling and stupid decision making process by the County Council that I’ve ever heard reported. I’d like to make a Three Stooges reference but none of this is funny and the Stooges always did the right thing.
As a point of information, Mr. Steven’s stated during discussion that should the County choose to withdraw the application, the County Council would then require a new letter of recommendation from Dr. James, effectively putting the decision whether to move forward back into the hands of the Public Health Officer. Mr. Hughes’ counter proposal was to negotiate with the State of Washington to allow the County Council to leave the application in place and retain for the Council the power to pause or move forward with the application based on their perception of safety and preparedness. That is the procedural point the County Council is waiting to hear about at the Tuesday meeting. Nothing changes between now and then due to the Governor’s pause, but it matters in terms of who will be making the future decision to move into phase 3.
The decision should most certainly be put back in the hands of Dr. James. His argument for withdrawing the application was reasoned and sound. I trust Dr. James to do the right thing.
If we are incapable or unwilling to enforce the rules of Phase 2, then even considering applying to move into Phase 3 feels grossly irresponsible.
Is it not possible to get the DOT to add an address line to the reservation system? Could someone please define the “close” in close to home non- essential travel?
Cindy: As someone who’d like to join Jamie STEPHENS on the county council please articulate how you might manage this decision differently and specifically where Rick is getting it wrong (on Covid and elsewhere). Why does he not deserve another four years in office? This year and next (Stephens is up for reelection) may be the most consequential San Juan County council elections in our history. We know Covid will be with us long after November 3. It is not enough for a challenger to say they are qualified, you must also give voters good reason to fire the incumbent. Thanks for your reply and candidacy.