Custer County Board of Health Meeting

June 5, 2020

by Tracy Ballard, The Valley Beat
The Custer County Board of Health (BOH) convened via teleconference, last Thursday, June 4th, where they discussed the Custer County Fair, Westcliffe Stampede Rodeo, and the Independence Day parade.
Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Jay Printz made a motion that the minutes from the May 20, 2020, meeting be approved and was seconded by Commissioner Bill Canda (Chairman of BOH). A Motion was approved unanimously.
Report from board members: Public Health Nurse, Elisa Livengood reported that the fifth amendment of the “Safer at Home” guidelines from the governor was released. The latest order would allow restaurants to have up to fifty diners or be at 50 percent capacity. Pools can be open, allowing up to 10 swimmers in at a time. Day camping is now allowed, but, overnight camping is not. This order is good through June 30, 2020. “This means no fairs, no rodeos, and no parades.” A variance request would need to be filed with the state for consideration. As of June 4th, 28 persons had been tested, 26 were negative, and STILL only the two original that tested positive. “We’ve been doing a good job of keeping the numbers down in Custer County. We are still testing one or two people a week. I will be interested to see where we are at two weeks from Memorial Day, because really, that was the first time that we had a lot of out-of-town people here and we had Main Street essentially full of people. So, that will be this coming Monday (June 8th). I’m hopeful that we will stay at those numbers and that we will have more of a case to the state to move forward with variance requests from the state.” Immediately following, Livengood wanted to make a statement. “It is my professional job to uphold these orders, it doesn’t mean I agree with them. I don’t necessarily agree that we shouldn’t have a parade, or a rodeo, or a fair, in fact, I’m pretty supportive of doing it, in the realm of safety and using some precautions. So, I want to put that out there. I’m not the bad guy here.”
Meredith Nichols agreed with Livengood.
Tom Flower said he wants to ask Cara Evans,
Commissioner’s Administrative Assistant to be the one to take minutes for future BOH meetings. All board members agreed she would be a great asset. Printz wanted it known that because this request is not part of her job description, if she does not want to do it, this decision would not reflect poorly against her.
There was nothing under Old Business and nothing further under General Statements/ Public Comment.
Chairman Bill Canda: Read a letter aloud that was submitted by Dr. Ann Willson, psychologist. Dr. Willson explained the psychological effects of the restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 orders have affected people in a negative way. “They are placing a serious psychological stress on our citizens and on their businesses. The psychological fallout from this stress along with unjustified retaliatory threats with failure not to comply with the BOH orders compounds these issues.” Both Printz and Flower were upset with the letter and that Dr. Willson was not present to explain what she meant in various parts of the
letter. Printz took offense to Dr. Willson’s assertion that there were extreme measures put in place by the Custer County Board of Health. Printz asserted that there have not been any retaliatory threats placed on anyone and he wanted her to come and defend her letter. Printz stated, “I am totally unaware of a single retaliatory action that was taken.” Flower stated that he had tried to respond to Dr. Willson, but for some reason, his email reply kept kicking back. He read the response aloud that he had tried to send to her.
Considerations of potential variances: Livengood would like to have camps open for families to stay overnight. Only one cabin per family would be allowed. She reported that both Sky Ranch and Rainbow Trail had submitted “really good plans.” She stated she is in favor of opening those up to families- only. “The state is getting a ton of push-back from counties all over the state. We aren’t the only people that have a Fourth of July parade, or a fair, or a rodeo. Hopefully with feedback from the entire state, we will be able to make some headway with that.” Both Livengood and Nichols discussed putting a survey out for community members to fill out with their opinions on how to proceed with upcoming events. This input would help them come up with the right verbiage for variances submitted to the state. Canda stated, “if it were up to me, everything would be opened back up and it shouldn’t just be up to public health agency to come up and interpret these orders and tell everybody here’s how we are gonna do it. It’s better if it is worked with the people that are involved and we have good opportunity now on three issues that are coming up.”
Canda reiterated that there are “many ways to skin a cat.” In a discussion with the parade organizers, Livengood and Nichols posed suggestions, such as all observers had to stay in their vehicles to watch it. This was unacceptable to the organizers and not something that they saw as reasonable or enforceable. Flower stated that he wanted to see something in the variance request that the inconsistencies put forth by the governor were unacceptable. He stated that the governor seemed very anti-agriculture, by allowing kids to play baseball, for instance, but not to show their animals in a fair.
Independence Day Parade Update: Ashley Franklin reported that she and Tracy Ballard had met with Livengood and Nichols on guidelines and they explained that to do the parade with the variance, parade organizers would need to ensure that people would need to line up and down Main Street and stay in their cars. “We are just not feeling that that is very feasible. They did submit a plan that included the east and west parking lots at the school for contactless areas so that people at-risk would have someplace to go to watch the parade. Franklin and Ballard also stated that would suggest to parade-goers that they observe social distancing guidelines. “We also know that we cannot constitutionally restrict people from going out and enjoying the parade. We can’t police them, we cannot force them to do anything and we understand that, too. We will also make sure we work with the participants to see that they are doing their best to observe social distancing and the things that need to be done to be safe. Overall, we want to bring this to the community because we have been struggling for months. We have been told what we can and can’t do. We want to work with the board of health so that the community can come out and celebrate! This is the birth of our nation. We are still trying to be positive, but we also need to be cautious of time.” They have pulled the insurance, filled out all paperwork, and have tried to do everything to follow the rules even though all around the country, people have been protesting, looting, and rioting. Printz stated that they put Livengood and Nichols in place to give them guidance on what the BOH should do. “I have no issue with compromise as long as it falls in the confines of the law. I will not be in favor of compromise that circumvents the orders coming down from the state. I agree with Miss Ashley about patriotism and that we need to get out and rah rah and do all these things during this horrible time we are in right now and she’s absolutely right with these riots and corona and everything else that is going on. Waving the flag is wonderful and we need to do it. I agree with it completely. But, I’m not willing to FOREGO THE BENEFITS TO CUSTER COUNTY by circumventing state law and that is a potential that can occur if we violate the orders from the state without a legal variance.” He gave atta-girls to “Tracy and Ashley” for working on putting the parade together. Franklin brought up a question regarding what benefits the county is getting that makes everyone so scared of stepping out of line with the state. “We became a 2A sanctuary city because we did not agree with the Red Flag Laws. We stood up, the commissioners voted, and we did that. I also don’t understand why we can’t stand up. We need to stand up to these people and say these are our rights, this is our right to assemble and our right to celebrate the nation. I understand there are health concerns. I think if we do some precautions like contactless parking, because there are sick kiddos and we want everyone to be able to come out. But the fact that we are tiptoeing around against a governor who continues to shut us down and tell us we need to stay in our basement with our mask on, it is just getting out of hand. This is a summer, outdoor event that is almost a mile long. We are not asking too much.” Further discussion ensued and Nichols stated that she and Livengood did not tell them no, and that the suggested guidelines were what would most likely get approved by the state. She apologized if that was misunderstood in the conversation. “There is still time to try to find a middle ground and still keep the community safe. Staying in a car or outside a car is a “valid option.” The discussion quickly went south when Livengood responded that “we were threatened that “they” (Tracy and Ashley) would start a riot if we didn’t allow for the parade to happen, so at what point do we say ‘enough is enough?’” Ballard spoke up and was adamant that a riot was never stated. They had discussed a protest march and took serious offense to that blatant untruth. “We are doing everything we can to stay within the parameters of the law and the orders that have been put down. That was a very unfair statement!” Franklin stated, “I would like to know who threatened with a ‘riot’? I stated that there are riots going on and it is not fair that we are trying to do the right thing, but people are allowed to riot. I also take offense to that and I don’t appreciate it!” To which Livengood sternly stated that “I don’t appreciate being constantly undermined by everything I do. I apologize that I said riots but you did absolutely say that you would organize a protest which is where riots start.”
Westcliffe Stampede Rodeo:
Saddle Club spokesman, Ron Beckner discussed the updated order from the governor and reiterated that he did not see anything in there that would help local kids “do what they do best.” There appear to be a lot of inconsistencies within the order from the state. The Saddle Club board will be looking at the guidelines and bring forth suggestions and a plan to public health and the BOH within the next couple of weeks.
Custer County Fair Board: Marlissa stated that they had submitted a “Plan B” which Livengood commented that she thought it was very comprehensive and inclusive. “It was doable and I did not see why the state would have a problem with it.” There was discussion clarifying that often, when people think of fairs, they think of “Ferris wheels and junk food on a stick.” That is not what the Custer County Fair is all about. It is about the kids showing their animals and projects they have worked hard on all year. It is more of a recreational activity, more closely aligning with the state definition of outdoor recreation.
Sky Ranch Proposal: Livengood stated that the proposal was very comprehensive and within state guidelines. She recommended they move forward with approval of the plan. Nichols concurred and recommended approval. Canda made the motion to approve with the motion seconded by Printz. The motion passed unanimously.
Potential opening of the County Building: Flower
felt like so many people are frustrated by trying to do business and only doing so via appointment. Printz deferred to Livengood and Nichols and what they suggest and staying within the orders put down from the state. Nichols doesn’t see how it can totally be done while observing social distancing. She would like to hear from the various agencies to see how it could be accomplished. There will be further discussions and it will be placed on an
upcoming agenda.
Submittal of a variance on behalf of the Fair Board: Printz made a motion to request that Livengood submit a variance on behalf of the Fair Board as soon as is feasible. The motion was seconded by Flower.
The Custer County Board of Health meeting will meet
Friday, June 12, 2020, at 2 p.m.