03/22/2020

[0:00:08] okay welcome everyone i'm now calling this meeting to order obviously we have unusual circumstances so our format this meeting is going to be a little different than normal what i'd like to do is just mainly first of all thank everyone for their cooperation for the action of our board and all my department heads and everyone else that contributed to putting this meeting together and getting us to this point what i'd like to do is just as i told our board at the last meeting that we would continue to reevaluate and assess risk to our city as everyone knows this changes by the minute so i'd like to re-estate it to you and basically just you know kind of let you know what's changed from our last meeting until this point as we continue to navigate through an unprecedented challenge in our world with the covid19 pandemic the city of southam is continuously assessing new and ever-changing information by the minute along with my team the department heads and board of alderaan i've been watching and studying this matter long before it reached the united states mississippi and our city we followed promoted and furthermore pleaded with all to heed the recommendations of president trump governor reeves the cdc the mississippi department of health and other public health experts in minimizing the risk risk of spread of his virus we've urged our citizens not to panic but to take this disease extremely seriously and take actions accordingly this is not a perfect science but instead a strategy of statistics to minimize the risk of a pandemic overrun of our health care facilities specifically one of the key strategies in finding this threat is social distancing by limiting mass gatherings of people while so many of our citizens and businesses have truly risen to the occasion like we knew they would our ongoing assessments have shown that too many continue to

[0:02:11] gather creating a serious threat to the health and safety of our citizens and people in general considering this as well as a very recent additional risk added by the influx of gatherings in our city following the city of memphis mandates we must take the following action and that's why we're here today so when we get into the recommendation it's my recommendation to the board we have an ordinance format the first recommendation is that basically i'm going to paraphrase a lot of what the city attorney has written all the board members have a copy of the temporary ordinance in front of you but basically all restaurant dining rooms must close and limit service to drive-through delivery take-out and curbside options all bars gyms theaters salons and recreational or amusement pals facilities must close when we get into the details let me get into the ordinance real quick and we're going to talk about a few other details when you get into organizations that don't meet the criteria that i just described the following will apply this will apply to businesses clubs organizations places of worship or other gatherings within the city's boundaries shall adhere to the guideline of the cdc to limit crowds or gatherings to no more than 10 people with the exclusion of essential services including but not limited to hospitals nursing homes post office distribution centers manufacturers and distributors of household goods and items for the supply chain distributors and manufacturers of products essential for the supply chain of vital supplies health clinics drug stores pharmacies banks grocery stores convenience stores gas

[0:04:14] stations and hardware stores there will be an exclusion for any retail stores that exceed 4 000 feet the reason for this obviously is if you have 10 people if you have more footage to spread them out obviously it reduces the risk of the gathering so that's the resolution attached to that what we'll need the board to vote on again today would be the penalties that would go into effect for the enforcement of this within the city so at this point i would like to open up discussion among the lord certainly i'll make a motion okay okay we're having a motion bombing flores second bottom in pain now we'll [Music] but the ordinance says curbside only pickup [Music] we'll yeah my statement it was listed this way drive through delivery take out the curbside option so well that's probably legally out i just want to make sure that yeah that's a good question for final sign population let me back up read that again yeah we mentioned that okay

[0:06:18] yeah sorry no problem so we'll need um yesterday i was just gonna study that uh well that's why we added at the end any kind of retail operation over four thousand four thousand square feet and again the uh the thought process there is you know is in line with the public health experts of uh you know spreading out social distancing so if you have a larger facility obviously you um you know you can spread 10 people out more effectively you can spread people out more more effectively and what about lawyers [Music] like what you and i have uh can be done outside [Music] well we're not we've not addressed every single issue like that again the thought process is that you're you know we're going to address those that um you know are going to be more of a risk of spread because of the uh the mass gathering of people so some of the ones that you describe you know typically they can follow the guidelines of president trump is laid out in cdc does that make

[0:08:24] think we ought sense put out something that encourages people to do uh e-commerce as much as possible certainly and we'll as we have been doing uh we'll continue to um you know drive that message home that that is critical at this time that we listen to the experts you know obviously none of us have been through something like this before this is unprecedented in our country so it's critical for all of our people you know to take the advice of public health experts at this time i just wanted to say i believe that's addressed uh just in the overall gatherings of no more than 10 people correct any other discussion guys [Music] um yeah everything that's um kelly asked that question it's a good uh good question he indicated that he's uncomfortable with limiting places of worship again i think the thought process there is you know the uh the amount of people and that's addressed in there again consistent with uh cdc limiting it to 10 10 or less but we can certainly um we can certainly remove that if you want to i mean again the thought process is you know any any area where you're going

[0:10:27] to have a mass gathering of people you're putting your people at more risk and uh i would believe that our churches of all people places of worship they're gonna be those that are gonna you know follow the lead and um you know and respect that and minimize the the risk uh to our people but that's that's a board call um if you want to make a motion to remove that we'll certainly address that mayor i'd like to add you know with all due respect i mean if people were doing what they were asked to do like the president said we wouldn't be here right now that's a good point so i mean i i think uh we've got to do what we've got to do i mean to protect the citizens as a whole and if common sense is out the window for some people then we have to we got to do what we got to do yes sir i appreciate you making that comment i agree with you well and we have if i may add to that uh it's fair to note and i have some other comments that i'd like to read before you leave today but it's fair to note that um you know we had rushed to this you know this is something that uh like i said we've been evaluating information by the minute uh every day has brought something new uh when we uh met on march the 17th there was one case diagnosed or confirmed in the sutton county from march 17 to march 22 which is five days uh that is now 18. so it's something that you know we have given private business an opportunity we've encouraged them i've made many many statements to this i've been encouraging it went from encouraging and promoting information to pleading and when i say that we've pleaded with people you know to heed the advice of the public health experts we have truly pleaded with people and it is our role as automated state uh you know we have to make decisions with priorities and you know public safety we all talk about how public health and safety is our number one priority so we have to make decisions in line with that and i think that's where we are at this point thank you for saying that and i cannot agree with that long lines most churches have gone

[0:12:29] online so the ones who have it at this point we've got to step in and do what we got to do certainly i agree but but again i respect alderman kelly uh bringing that up solomon kelly if you'd like to make a motion we'll definitely vote on that i would like to make a motion to remove [Music] okay we're recommending it in other areas like i said with promoting it all through the ordinance so i think it would be if it's okay with you i think it's sufficient just to remove i'm not trying to tell you how to make your motion i'll do it however you asked me to do it but we all throughout the ordinance you know we talk about that we're encouraging everyone to follow the advice of the public health experts kelly makes a motion that uh that we removed the wording of places of worship is our second is there a second to alderman kelly's motion to remove places of worship one more time is there a second to remove places of worship peralta and kelly's motion okay hearing none uh that motion uh will not be voted upon okay any other discussion i do have a question uh i don't are daycares included in this channel would they not

[0:14:42] [Music] i'm not disagreeing but what are you going to do with the people who have to go to work and they'll have no place to take the children this is the problem we have not shutting down businesses completely and i said that it'll work i'd like you know and throughout all the discussion again you know we we continue to come back to there's there's this is not perfect science and and you just have to ask people in businesses to you know to use a common sense approach you know you know we all can't shut down you know we've got to continue on with life but it's uh again it's a strategy of statistics and minimizing risk and that's something you know that um you know there are consequences both ways you know that's part of the statement i will read to you uh soon that uh you know these decisions uh do not come easily because there are um you know there are consequences yeah i mean honestly i think that i mean that's the reason they sit down i agree and it put the same kind of burden on working families you know they have to do something with their kids you know because schools got down and i think we're at the same place we don't have that information i think it's actually essential you feel like you're the nurse as a parent at work i don't know how you get around right some of those things and we have to keep in consideration a lot of the single family parents namely the mom who's and i will say this probably most daycares are thinned out because there's probably more people at home right now you would think but and you're right i don't know how you

[0:16:45] practice social christmas the um [Music] yeah well again i'll remind everyone what brought us here today like oliver who stated uh is that we pleaded with people to use good judgment and you know we don't none of us want to be here uh right now having to do this but there are some things that that are not essential that people have failed to heed the advice and that's why we're here so i mean i would say if you're going to arrow one side of the other you know you air on the side of not closing it down to give people we hope that they will use good judgment because in some cases like cal state it could be essential you know it could be needed um however some of the things that we've already addressed you know are recreational type things that you would think that people would use good judgment and they just simply haven't i mean i have i hate to you know be so candid and tell you the truth but they're uh we've been uh you know we've had our police assessing you know the restaurants and the bars and you know we felt like people would handle that on their own tuesday night when we talked about it it was my hope that we would not have to get involved in this and that they they would take key to that advice and go home but the facts are that they have not and so that's why we're here um now getting into the daycare issue i mean an argument like y'all stated could be made that that is essential you know so it would be my suggestion at this point that you would err on the side of leaving that i'll make the motion to exclude day cares from this ordinance at this time [Music] and do we need nip do we need to specifically i'll just add it to the included emotion that has been made

[0:18:47] so daycare will be included as an exemption okay that would include [Music] you know i guess clients most of their kids that have dropped off for medicine so yeah um just because you have more and more parents that are actually working from well now and the kids i think we also need to keep in mind we're talking about we're this one because first responders nurses doctors they have to have an option i'm okay with this i was just saying we don't need to open the door i agree you know start saying well what about this anyone that's not here is remotely calling in do you have any comments or thoughts on that [Music] okay we probably are going to have to stay with what we got because if we do that we could jeopardize the connection uh with the others but let me just let me do this then let me repeat what the discussion has been the discussion is alderman payne raised the concern about adding a daycare excluding daycares from this so we can keep that open and we've discussed varying opinions on that uh alderman flores and aldrin wheeler brought up points that uh that it could be considered an essential service because obviously our first responders people that work in our medical field when they have to go to work they have to have help with their children so you

[0:20:49] know if you closed that down or didn't leave that option open for judgment then you could potentially be affecting uh those that that we need the most right now to be at work and so i thought that was a good point so at this point uh what where we stand before making a motion is to exclude day cares right okay autumn brooks thank you arnold brooks any other any other comments or thoughts on that okay and uh with that being said is there enough official money to get there okay you made the motion and i think all right okay floor is maybe second is there any other discussion at all all right carry on roll call this this is to exclude um in the description of the listing of the businesses that will be exempt from this adding day cares back to it ultimately where you would allow daycares to stay open okay any other discussion hearing none or and again i appreciate everybody's patience these are not the normal communication standards that we go by but uh do you mind coming a little bit closer andrea city clerk will uh call the roll call author and kelly [Music] okay any other discussion

[0:23:00] okay hearing none we're going to need to go to the second part we'll also need to we'll need to approve the the enforcement of it so all you have does anyone have a copy of that okay i don't think it's necessary to read the details of this unless someone wants me to this standard nick would be standard it's just taking the missing code and applying penalty that can be used in the violation of the ordinance for rehabilitation and six months of presence missing your code allowing each pilot to be missing there allowed by this equation again just summarize it's allowing the city to enforce the ordinance let me give you that i'll make that measurement okay we've got a motion in pain a second monitoring flores is there any discussion hearing none roll the call please alderman kelly alderweireld yes all right before i make pleasant comments any other comments or discussion among the board was it was installed uh it was start effective at five o'clock today 5 p.m today so this essentially isn't a shelter in place per se no okay so make sure we get that yeah and i have part of my statement i'm going to address that just a little bit that's a good point to bring up any other discussion questions okay i'll make my final comments and then we'll also welcome any questions from the media

[0:25:02] after this okay in addition to the action that we've taken today i've also declared a state of emergency for our city uh this in no way should be misconstrued as a need for panic but it's simply a maneuver to allow us leniency with certain laws which further allow us to serve our citizens better and also recover unusual costs associated with these circumstances for those that question why we've not taken more drastic measures such as a shelter in place or other similar orders please understand that although it sounds like a noble move and it's possible that circumstances could require this cities do not have the manpower to enforce this this decision is more effectively made by the state or federal government with resource allocations to support it neither have done this at this time furthermore it's important to me that my citizens and our business community know that i understand that all these decisions have tremendous consequences we have been cautious and reluctant to execute mandates because we know we face serious economic risks in addition to public health and safety risks and these decisions have a serious impact on the livelihoods of our people in the short term even still we must make difficult decisions with our priorities in line the health and safety of our people must always be our number one goal in weighing all risk we must also consider that the center we control the spread of this virus the center we can return to our way of life and a thriving local economy again my advice to all today is to stay calm stay home if you can stay smart stay positive stay safe and consider the safety and needs of your fellow land we will get through this and return to the way of life we love in south dakota thank you and i'll entertain questions at this point mr bob

[0:27:05] mayor i think uh mr manley had addressed this but any any ordinance obviously needs an enforcement effort how exactly do you plan to enforce this ordinance now going forward uh police visits what how how can you explain that well we considered all the above you know before we um looked at the magnitude of what we could and couldn't do uh that's why in my statement i indicate that you know cities are limited at what they can do you know that's why when you see federal and state change is done usually that's filed up by additional law enforcement other measures that are put in place to help uh so you know from a municipal standpoint uh it's our police you know we'll man we'll man just like you would any other ordinance he'll be enforced by our police department and what are the penalties for violation uh that's what we discussed in the ordinance about getting into the details nick would you would you read that again please it's uh um under the um code to 300 fine or imprisonment return i could not continue 90 days um misdemeanor five missing penalties is it possible to get a copy of that yeah once everything exciting all right that'd be better all right great thank you all for what you're doing thank you yes sir and all this will be is obviously a public record uh after this meeting we will do our part in distributing that through social media communication channels to make sure we get the word to the public appreciate the media with help and doing that as well yes ma'am hi jeretta patterson with news 3 where the fine if it's not paid does it go against your driving record how do you enforce that it would be enforced in the municipal court like every other ordinance would be last question um i guess there was difficulty of course with the daycare some cities have opted to close daycares mainly citing children being if you're a parent you know they are super spreaders so are you going to enforce extra cleaning practices for daycares what can you do to ease the minds of those who it may

[0:29:08] cause their eyebrows to raise because again you're allowing these children to come together children they're not washing their hands properly they're coughing in faces what will you do with these daycares well that's a that's a great question and again i'll go back to my statement but this is not a perfect science the things you state are obviously risks that are out there you heard the discussion among the board you know this that's a touchy one that's one that's a tough call of the logic if i understood my board right again their logic is that they deem it somewhat essential because you could have first responders or people that work in the healthcare profession that do have to go to work and they have to have options with their children so again we would encourage you know it doesn't stop the encouragement and continue you know to plead with all people you know to use good judgment you know with hygiene and social distancing as much as possible obviously with children in the daycare some of that's not possible uh but they're they're still you know this doesn't take the place of private business decisions as well any other questions i would like to point out we do have mr brian hogan with jennifer's hospital in the audience and if anyone has any questions for him at this time we appreciate your assistance as well again like i stated earlier we are getting reports daily from state department of health it's my understanding that as of today there are 18 confirmed cases uh positive cases in desoto county at this time bryan is there any other information that you think would be relevant to this discussion no i i would just say that um we at baptist uh strongly follow the cdc guidelines and encourage everyone to do that and the cdc strongly encourages social isolation so um i just wanted to make that comment and i i do agree with the seriousness of the situation and the need for action

[0:31:10] thank you son and we appreciate all the badges hospitals doing in our city appreciate that okay have any other questions or comments hearing none i'll uh ask for a motion to adjourn to me somebody okay we got a motion model in flores second model a wheeler i'll this meeting is adjourned you

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=z1ikGn7C3cc