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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 6/19/2020 City of Glendale 5850 West Glendale Avenue Glendale, AZ 85301 "421P Glendale ARIZONA Meeting Minutes Friday, June 19, 2020 11:00 A.M. Special Meeting Civic Center City Council Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ray Malnar Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember lan Hugh Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner CALL TO ORDER Mayor Weiers called the meeting to order at 11:00 a.m. He said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the expansion of the Local Emergency Proclamation issued on March 18, 202 regarding COVID-19. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ray Malnar Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner Also Present: Kevin Phelps, City Manager Jim Gruber, Deputy City Attorney Sheryl Rabin, Deputy City Clerk Vicki Rios, Assistant City Manager Councilmember Aldama attended the meeting telephonically. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE NEW BUSINESS 1. CONSIDERATION AND ACTION REGARDING PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CITY OF GLENDALE EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION AS IT PERTAINS TO COVID-19 Presented by: Rick St. John, Interim Deputy City Manager Ms. Rabin read the item by title. Mr. St. John said Arizona statistics indicated an upward trend in cases and testing. There had been a continuous spike of cases. Governor Ducey's Executive Order 2020-40, issued on June 17, 2020, gave counties and municipalities the ability to mandate the wearing of face coverings in public places. He reviewed the internal actions taken and said the City continued to follow Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the Emergency Operations team had a recommendation. Mr. St. John said the recommendation was for the City to take action to flatten the curve which included the mandatory wearing of face coverings in public places. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if food industry workers were currently required to wear face coverings. Ryan Lee, Intergovernmental Coordinator, said the executive order did not address face covering requirements but requested businesses to follow CDC guidelines. The guidelines did require face coverings for food industry workers. Mayor Weiers said a face covering requirement would be the City's decision. City Council Meeting Minutes-June 19, 2020 Page 2 of 4 Councilmember Aldama said zip codes 85301, 85302, 85303 had significant confirmed cases of COVID-19 and it made sense for the City to mandate face covering to flatten the curve. Businesses could not afford another shut down. Councilmember Tolmachoff said a resolution had been included on the agenda. For the sake of transparency, the public should understand why it was posted. Mayor Weiers had received feedback that members of Council were not comfortable voting on the resolution. Instead, he would consider Council's input in making the decision on what action should be taken, such as a proclamation. Councilmember Tolmachoff said the City Charter clearly stated the responsibility belonged to the Mayor. She did not agree that public places should include outdoor activities or private business. The mandate should be places where social distancing was impossible such as retail stores, restaurants and similar places. Mayor Weiers asked if the requirement should include face coverings to be worn by servers, cooks, and by patrons as they walked in and out of the establishment. Councilmember Tolmachoff said restaurants were allowing masks to be removed at tables because tables had been socially distanced. She presented statistics from the Arizona Medical Association and from Midwestern University President Goeppinger regarding face coverings in public. It was not a political issue. It was a public health issue and the decision should be based on what healthcare professionals recommended. Councilmember Turner supported requiring face coverings in public places but not all public places. Face coverings were important because it was a serious public health problem and action needed to be taken immediately. Councilmember Clark asked if the rate of hospitalization and ventilator use had increased. Mr. St. John said both had increased. Councilmember Clark said it was important not to overburden hospitals. She was a "live free or die" person but had been wearing a mask to protect others and society. Despite her personal beliefs, she supported face covering where social distancing was not possible and where there would be contact with people for more than 10 minutes. She did not support face coverings outdoors or for children under 6 years old. Vice Mayor Malnar said it was a divisive issue. He asked what the scientific evidence for wearing non-N95 types of mask. Deputy Fire Chief McMenemy said data was still being collected and was subject to change. There was no hard data correlating not wearing masks and the likelihood of death. It was proven that a face covering protected the public from spittle. Vice Mayor Malnar said there was a lot of concern regarding personal liberty. A strong argument could be made for protecting the health of individuals. He agreed that businesses could not afford to shut down again. He would support Mayor Weier's decision. Councilmember Tolmachoff disagreed that mandating face coverings would violate constitutional rights and compared a mandate to the ban on texting and driving and seat belt laws. They were all safety issues. A person did not have a right to endanger others. Telling people to stay home if City Council Meeting Minutes-June 19, 2020 Page 3 of 4 they were sick would not work for asymptomatic people. It was a public health emergency and the Emergency Operations Team and medical professionals recommended face coverings and social distancing. Councilmember Aldama was in favor of face coverings with the exceptions mentioned by other Councilmembers to help minimize the spread and better serve the community. Councilmember Hugh asked if the Police Department would enforce the wearing of face masks. Mr. St. John said Governor Ducey had recommended enforcement through education. If education did not work, a certain level of on-site supervision would be required before other enforcement action was taken. Councilmember Hugh said, with the exceptions discussed, people would still have their freedom and he would support Mayor Weier's decision. Councilmember Turner said the CDC's recommendation was that it was better to wear mask. Councilmember Clark urged the Mayor to issue a proclamation with the list of exceptions that had been discussed. Daniel McCarthy, Cholla District resident, spoke in opposition to the requirement. Paul Bronson, Yucca District resident, spoke in opposition to the requirement. Adam Danks, Ocotillo District resident, spoke in opposition to the requirement. Joan Abney, Cactus District resident, spoke in opposition to the requirement. Joe Garcia, Yucca District resident, spoke in support of the requirement. Mayor Weirs said, based on the discussion, he would issue a proclamation regarding face masks by the end of the day. The key components to addressing health issues was knowledge and education. He urged everyone to continue to follow CDC guidelines to mitigate the spread of the virus. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Weiers adjourned the meeting at 12:21 p.m. I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Glendale City Council of Glendale, Arizona, held on the 19th day of June, 2020. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 10th day of July, 2020. ie K. Bower, MMC, City Clerk City Council Meeting Minutes -June 19, 2020 Page 4 of 4