City Council Meeting

City of OS h ua MINUTES CITY COUNCIL EMERGENCY MEETING MARCH 26,2020 6:00 PM City Council Prtsent: Joe Hollam, Mayor; Rick DePriest, Place l; Mike Kidd, Place 2; Angela Nichols, Place 3; Robert Purdom, Place 4; Jerry Moore, Place 5; and Scott Kimble, Place 6. City Council Absent: na City Staff Present: Josh Jones, City Manager; and Alice Holloway, City Secretary. THIS MEETING OF CITY COUNCIL IS CALLED PURSUANT TO AN EMERGENCY OR URGENT PUBLIC NECESSITY, SPECIFICALLY THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (CO\1D-19), IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 55I.045 OF THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE. City facilities are closed to the public in response to a health emergency specifically Coronavinrs Disease (COVID-l9). This meeting is available via live stream. Join Zoom Meeting httDs ://zoom.us/i/533084867?pwd=bG9 i dTIvRlOw\DZ\INnhEWV.IrTiNuZz09 Meetin g ID: 533 0E4 867 Password:004446 l. Call to Order. Mayor Hollam called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm 2. Discuss, consider and take action on an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Joshua, Texas, declaring a Locat State of Disaster due to a Public Health Emergencyi making findings related thereto; providing an effective date; providing an expiration date; and providing for the publication of the caption hereof. Mayor Hollam stated that the City of Burleson issued a stay at home order on March 25, 2020 and he put in a call to the mayor of Clebume to see what they are doing. Mayor Hollam stated that the county's Declaration needs clarification. Mayor Hollam stated he really likes the order that the City of Clebume issued. Mayor Hollarn stated that the hope is that the county clears up their declaration tomorrow during their meeting. Mayor Hollarn stated that he would like for the council to help decide if the City should issue our own declaration. He stated that the citizens want us to help them. He then asked each council member what their thoughts were: Councilmember Kimble made the following statements: . He opposes all emergency declarations. o There are already orders in place that he does not have a voice in. There is a disease out there that has a 3.4 fatality rate. The influenza flu last year had a 7.1 percent fatality rate worldwide,  double what this virus is. During the Flu epidemic, business by business made the decision to close, not the govemment. We are only hearing how many people have died from the virus, not how many has survived. We are only getting one side of the story from the media. We are reacting and not responding to the situation. He stated that he a$ees that the county and the Govemor's declaration needs to be cleared up and it needs to be uniformed across the state. Councilmember Moore made the following statements: r The City of Burleson issued the order that they did because a large portion of their City is in Tarrant County. o We are a city between the two largest cities in Johnson County. He stated that taking no action or waiting on the county will not be 1007o effective. He stated that if everyone did not take the precautions that we did a month ago, he believes things would have been a lot worse than they are. . He agrees that there has not been enough testing. He asked how many people have died from the virus that we are unaware of. o He likes different sections of declarations issued by Burleson and Cleburne. Taking no action is rhe easy way of making sure that we are not stepping on people's rights, but at the end of the day, someone has to help us protect us from ourselves. Councilmember Purdom made the following statements: o We will never know if we over react, but will certainly know if we under react. . The stay in place order is ultimately the next altemative last step. He stated that a stay in place order is very serious, meaning you will only be able to send in one person into a store at a time. Councilmember Nichols made the following statements: . Agrees that it could be worse if we wait and do nothing. r Likes the City of Clebume's Declaration. o Don't want to be like Tarrant County and have many cases. o It could be worth waiting and seeing what the county does, but does agree something needs to be done. Councilmember Kidd made the following statements: o We need to make a statement. Guidelines are the key. . Proud of citizens and businesses for protecting themselves. . Likes the City of Cleburne's Declaration. Councilmember DePriest made the following statements: . We need to put a safeguard in place. The City Council asked City Attomey Terry Welch to prepare an Emergency Declaration. Mayor Hollam stated he will issue the declaration as soon as it is ready. Mayor Hollam adjoumed the meeting at 8:35 pm. 6<- 1")44L) J llam, Mayor ATTEST: Alice Holloway, TRMC City Secretary Approved: May 21,2020