City Council

MINUTES OF THE CITY OF BRISTOL,TENNESSEE SPECIAL CALLED CITY COUNCIL MEETING March 30,2020 CALL TO ORDER: The City of Bristol, Tennessee Special Called City Council Meeting was called to order by Mayor Margaret Feierabend at 4:30 p.m. The meeting was held electronically via Zoom. ROLL CALL VOTE: Present were Mayor Margaret Feierabend, Vice Mayor Mahlon Luttrell, Councilman Chad Keen, Councilwoman Lea Powers, and Councilman Vince Turner. Others present were City Manager William L. Sorah, City Attorney Danielle Smith, City Recorder Tara Musick, and Community Relations Director Jon Luttrell. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION: A. Discussion of Necessity for Conducting Electronic Meeting: Mayor Feierabend asked if anyone on Council objected to holding an electronic meeting. No one objected since the electronic meeting is necessary to protect public safety, health, and welfare due to the Coronavirus. B. Update from Sullivan County Department of Health: Director Gary Mayes of the Sullivan County Health Department discussed that Sullivan County had issued a Safer at Home Executive Order. Regional Medical Director Dr. Steven May discussed that the number of case in Sullivan County was higher and that we are now seeing community spread. Therefore, they believed it was necessary to issue the Safer at Home Executive Order to control the pandemic. The number of cases in Sullivan County, Tennessee is now at thirteen. They expect the number of cases to rise as more test results are coming in. Director Mayes stated that multiple contacts were occurring and the potential for community spread will be even greater. He discussed the executive order which encourages citizens to stay at home and for businesses to close and encourage their employees to stay at home. It is non-inclusive and does not require every business in the County to close. Frequently asked questions are attached to the executive order to give more of an explanation. He explained the list of businesses that could stay open and read several categories from the list.  Special City Council Meeting March 30, 2020 Page 2 of 5 A phone line for citizens to call has been established for general COVID-19 questions where nurses are answering the phone. This has been operational for four weeks. The line will still be used, but dedicated staff will be able to answer questions about the executive order and business regulations. Councilman Turner asked what the timeline of the executive order is. It is effective from March at 12:01 a.m. and it will be reviewed daily. The rate of the disease will control when the order when end. It has no set end date at this point and will be left open. Councilwoman Powers said that the City's press release was great and she asked for the numbers to call to be provided to the public. She asked for someone to explain the difference between this order and the direction from the Governor of Tennessee. Director Mayes said the difference is that we have begun seeing community spread in this region. He says that data tells us that social distancing is the best tool in the toolbox to prevent spread. Director Mayes said that if left unchecked that 5% of the population will require critical care or ventilators. Mandatory social distancing becomes even more critical in preventing the spread. There is death rate in the United States of2.5%. It is even more imperative that we implement these social distancing type measures to prevent a surge. Councilwoman Powers believes that citizens do not understand what that data means for the public in Sullivan County. Vice Mayor Luttrell asked what number of cases have been treated and how many patients are still in the hospital. Dr. May replied that one patient is in the hospital on a ventilator. Mayor Feierabend thanked them for their time and said that they were appreciated. She appreciates their leadership. Director Mayes stated that he appreciates the Council leadership. Strong leadership will be needed over the next few weeks and compliance with the order is critical for success in controlling the virus. C. Update from United Way of Bristol: Lisa Cofer, Executive Director of the United Way, stated that this is the worst that she has seen in her career for the number of people that need help. There is not a case manager in Bristol that someone can go to in order to get help. The people are contacting the United Way for help. The United Way has decided to pull $20,000 offunds to create a United Way of Bristol Local CGVID-19 Relief Fund. These dollars will be allocated to the agencies that are boots on the ground. There is an advisory committee of  Special Called City Council Meeting March 30, 2020 Page 3 of5 donors who will review applications to determine where the funds should be allocated. United Way has joined with the regional partners to do a regional fund. Both funds have had donations. The goal for the regional fund is $1.9 million. Calls are coming in from people directly impacted from COVID-19, such as from losing a job. People are scared and many have never asked for help before. The Help Your Neighbor Fund is also available for use. They are getting several calls from homeless families in need of shelter. There are twenty-five agencies that they are staying in communication with. Girls, Inc., has had to modify their programs. They ensure the entire family has what they need. Sullivan County Children Advocacy Center has several staff at home and some staff working in the office. Frontier Industries is busy running supplies to their residential homes to keep their clients safe and protected. Many patients are confused and do not know what is going on. Appalachian Regional Coalition of Homelessness (ARCH) is researching federal grants available. Frontier Health is also moving many of their outpatient mental health services to tele-help. Clients are being provided with the same level of service in just a different way. There is a walk-in center open in Johnson City all seven days of the week, twenty-four hours a day. They are monitoring the impact that the pandemic is having on mental health in this area including suicides. They are working with local food pantries to recruit volunteers and a contingency plan is in place with Food City. D. Update from Bristol's Promise: Ms. Melissa Roberts, Program Coordinator of Bristol's Promise, talked about how they have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have worked with several local nonprofits to distribute information via their website. They have been hosting weekly meetings to determine needs of the non-profit agencies. Food and volunteers are amongst the main needs. She discussed various ways that people can volunteer to support the community. She also discussed the impact of the closure of schools on the need for childcare. Councilwoman Powers stressed the importance of mental health and asked how someone in need could get help and who should they contact. Ms. Cofer stated that they should call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, the Crisis Center, or the Nurse Connect telephone line. The numbers were provided for the audience. Mayor Feierabend also said that people should call Frontier Health for tele-help. Vice Mayor Luttrell asked if the United Way anticipated additional revenue streams from the stimulus package to help. Ms. Cofer replied that she hoped so and is trying to better understand the opportunities for the local nonprofits in order to distribute the information.  Special Called City Council Meeting March 30, 2020 Page 4 of 5 E. Update on City Services: City Manager Sorah provided an update on City services. He discussed that the police department is reporting an uptake in domestic violence and verbal threat calls. It is activity typical of a holiday season and was not unanticipated. Personal protective equipment(PPE) was deployed on one call this weekend. Transit is providing the same level ofservices mainly due to the population that we serve. This is the only form of transportation that they have. The buses ae being sterilized and the number of riders is being restricted. Restrooms in the Downtown Center are open and cleaned throughout the day. We have not altered solid waste activity. Brush and bulk is continuing to be collected. Playground equipment cannot be sanitized with any level of efficiency. Staff is in the process ofroping these areas off. Facilities are being secured to prevent large gatherings. There were two handwashing stations deployed last week in two of the parks, Anderson Park and the Downtown Center. This will be important going forward with social distancing and good hygiene. Councilwoman Powers asked if signage will be added to the parks to stress the importance of social distancing. City Manager Sorah said in all honesty that the parks may need to be locked down to prevent large gatherings. She inquired if the Community Relations Department had discussed adding billboards. He replied that had not been a topic of conversation. She asked if we could add programming about the virus and mental health and what to do if people are feeling anxious. She does not believe that people understand what Safer at Home really means. She wondered what the comprehensive implementation plan is for communication. City Manager Sorah mentioned that Community Relations is planning daily briefings to help spread the message. She also asked if we are going to work with the BTES station. City Manager Sorah replied that had not been discussed. Vice Mayor Luttrell asked if the school system had discussed when school would restart. Mayor Feierabend responded that she believed that the start date had been pushed out. She said that an end date beyond the current school year had not been discussed to her knowledge. Councilwoman Powers talked with Ms. Jill Harrison about whether under the new Governor's order if the meal delivery plan could still continue. City Manager Sorah said that the services could continue to remain. City Manager Sorah explained that the Sullivan County Health Department's order is in effect for the City. Council is going to ratify the order to stress the importance of the matter and to support the actions of the Sullivan County Health Department. All efforts are being made to flatten the curve. Mayor Feierabend read Executive Order Number 20-01, Proclaiming a Local and Civil Emergency within the City of Bristol, Tennessee. She asked the City Manager and City Attorney Danielle Smith to verify that she read everything correctly. Ms. Smith stated that she did.  Special Called City Council Meeting March 30, 2020 Page 5 of 5 City Manager Sorah discussed the definitions of essential versus nonessential. Many services involving personal care will be deemed nonessential. The Sullivan County Department of Health will be making the call in regards to what businesses are essential versus nonessential. Mayor Feierabend stated that this is regional. Everyone must be on the same page. Councilman Turner asked for the Mayor to clarify the differences between what she read and what the Sullivan County Health Department issued today. Councilwoman Powers summarized it as the Sullivan County Health Department had provided guidance. We needed to take further action so we could enforce the order in our City. City Manager Sorah said this is how we express that the Sullivan County Health Department has the support of the City Council and the other local governments. F. Council Comments: Councilman Keen mentioned that we could maybe put yard signs up to show that certain park areas will be monitored. He also mentioned that some other business be taken care of if one of the update meetings is going to be short. Councilwoman Powers said that she thought this was a great idea. Councilman Turner mentioned that the Economic Development Department was still working and there are positive things going on in the City. He would like an update from Mr. Tom Anderson. Councilwoman Powers said that she thought that it would be great to have the schools involved. She would like to hear the communication plan from Mr. Jon Luttrell. Mayor Feierabend said there was still a meeting scheduled next Tuesday at the regular scheduled time which had been advertised. There was a discussion of when Council should meet again. She also wanted to remind the citizens about the census. Everyone is encouraged to complete the census through one of the various means offered. She thanked Council for working together during this difficult time and the various partners. She also wanted to thank the citizens and stressed that Council is with them and will try to help in any way that they can as a city. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:53 p.m. by the Mayor. I^fargaret Feierabend, Mayor '^/LCL Tara E. Musick, City Recorder