Health, Recreation & Events Committee

TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA SPECIAL MEETING RECREATION COMMITTEE Tuesday, April 21, 2020 2:00 p.m. Video-Conference Meeting Live Streaming Link: https://youtu.be/Zah27nRuk1w MINUTES Present via video: Gary Santos, Chair; Jake Rambo, G. M. Whitley 1. Call to order Mr. Santos called the Special Meeting of the Recreation Committee to order at 2:00 p.m. via video conferencing and live streaming. 2. Roll call 3. Public comments Mr. Santos said the public comments were received either by e-mail or by voice message. He said they received a voice messages from Ms. Sharon Mills and Mr. Dan Gaita. He said they both strongly agreed that they should proceed with opening the Town’s parks. Daniel R. Gaita MA, LMSW - Dear Mount Pleasant Recreation Committee Members: I formally submit this public comment for the record during the Special Meeting of the Recreation Committee being held via live stream, Tuesday April 21, 2020 at 2pm via link: https://youtu.be/Zah27nRuk1w As a licensed clinical mental health social worker, I strongly encourage the opening of all Mount Pleasant Parks and Recreation Facilities and all programs that would allow for common sense continuation of social distancing measures. Open space locations, fields, trails, pools etc. I base this suggestion on all available data from the WHO, CDC and more importantly, DHEC. First Basis of Suggestion (Parks & Rec, Open Space, Trails) With Costco, Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart all packed and open during this quarantine, Charleston County has only 3 COVID19 related deaths (Since March 24th) in a county of 415,000...A survival rate of 99.23%. With a County mortality rate of 0.77. (Data Source DHEC) Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 2 of 11  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 3 of 11 Second Basis of Suggestion (Pools) There is no evidence that COVID- 19 can be spread to humans through the use of pools, hot tubs or spas, or water playgrounds. Proper operation, maintenance, and disinfection (e.g., with chlorine and bromine) of pools, hot tubs or spas, and water playgrounds should inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19. (Source CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/water.html) Third Basis of Suggestion: (Mental Health & Fitness) Newly emerging research being conducted by Mount Pleasant based Operation Vet Fit continues to show a growing relationship between quarantine and mental health factors (Anxiety, Depression, Well Being) Whereby those with access to exercising more often are demonstrating lower rates of anxiety and depression with more positive well being. While those unable to access open space, gyms and or equipment to exercise are experiencing higher rates of depression and anxiety and lower sense of well being. (Source: https://www.operationvetfit.org/corona) Finally, our Town and County have answered the call of our President, Governor, and Mayor during this time of pandemic uncertainty. Based on all federal guidance and data, Mount Pleasant appears to be one of the fortunate towns ripe for reopening with cautious optimism and continued social distancing measures. Respectfully submitted. Sharon Mills - I have been a resident of Mt. Pleasant for over 30 years. My husband and my daughter in law both are Mt. Pleasant physicians. I have a 93 yr. old mother in a Mt. Pleasant assisted living facility. I have two grandbabies and one pregnant daughter. Just a little background to say I see lots of different perspectives. I want to applaud Gary Santos and those who join him on Town Council for trying to open up some “green spaces” for walking/exercising/moving. I don’t mean playgrounds or restrooms. I mean green spaces where people just can breathe in fresh air and walk. I live in a wonderful neighborhood but we do not have sidewalks and everyone is walking down the middle of the roads which is dangerous, and it’s hard to stay 6 feet away. People need to move around in safe places. To see others moving around. To realize the sky is not falling, and that we still live in a beautiful place. For older people to not lose their physical ability to walk around (that happens to older people—don’t use it, you lose it.) If the areas are monitored, it won’t take people long to notice if the police (who are out in force now anyway) gently remind people no groups are allowed and then  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 4 of 11 the police fine them after one warning or if they won’t disperse. They will stop. To let the fear of a potential few who might not go by the rules, ruin it for the rest of us is insulting. We understand the dangers. We see the news. We have sheltered in place. We have gotten take-outs to encourage local businesses. Please go on the assumption that most people really do care and really are listening. They just need to stay mentally and physically healthy in this time. Places like the Mt. Pleasant Town Hall track (lots of green grass, a track, no equipment, right by police station), Park West, or even the grassy area by Alhambra—wide open spots –help us as the citizens do our best to stay healthy. Start with the areas that are the most “open” spaces. Monitor them. Enforce the rules kindly but firmly. Let the majority of Mt. Pleasant see the light at the end of the tunnel and feel a bit of encouragement. Trust us to do right. We appreciate the police, and all first responders. We appreciate the jobs each of you are doing. It’s a confusing time. But, despite facebook conversations, the hospitals do say the numbers are turning around. I get a Roper update each day from my husband (in writing). It’s not about people being bored. It’s not about people wanting to party. It is about people being able to exercise (mood enhancer) and get a stress reliever to quiet their minds, help them to rest better at night, etc. People’s health will start to suffer from lack of movement and their anxieties are increasing by the week. That will play out in negative ways for many, and for their neighbors/families/friends. Now you are going to have people arguing over the beach access, stores opening (or not). People are ready to “fight” over something. Give Mt. Pleasant residents a little “win”—a positive thing that says, “we heard you, we see you, we want to help our residents.” Don’t let fear rule the days. Especially not fear of the non- compliant. When have we ever made rules based on fear of the citizens who don’t abide by the laws. Thank you for consideration of this. 4. Discussion and possible action with regard to the reopening of Town parks Mr. Santos said that it was advertised that they would be talking about opening the Town’s parks so the citizens would have an opportunity to come out and exercise with some restrictions and guidelines. Mr. Gergick thanked the Committee Members for participating on the video conference. He said Chairman Santos had asked the Department  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 5 of 11 to look at a plan on how they could open the Town’s parks on a limited basis. He said information had been forwarded to them on how the Department envisioned it could happen if the Recreation Committee and Town Council chose to do so. He said the parks identified were as Park West, Jimmy Seignious Fields, and Cheryl Woods-Flowers. He said this would be for leisure activities with no organized activities such as team sports or personal training. Mr. Gergick said the Department would have staff at each of the facilities to monitor and ensure that proper social distancing took place. He said they would divide the fields with subsections and limit the number to two people per section in accordance with the Governor’s order. He said the hours would be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. He said if asked to do so, the Department was willing and capable of implementing it. Mr. Santos said this was a moment in progress and it was not set in stone. He discussed limits, social distancing, and the facilities involved. He said they would be doing this for the citizen’s benefit of exercise, health, and safety. He they would be abiding by all Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. Mr. Rambo said they did not mention the Whipple Road Tennis Center which was on the plan sent previously. Mr. Gergick said that though the Tennis Center and the courts at Park West were listed, he understood there was a prohibition on the use of shared equipment and identified that that use of tennis balls would not be permitted in accordance with the existing orders. He said they had since modified that information. Mr. Rambo said he had people reach out about the batting cages at the Jones Center and asked if they could be available. Mr. Gergick answered in the affirmative. Mr. Rambo asked about the limits of two people and the fact that people may be in the same household. Mr. Gergick said the Department would do whatever Council recommends. He said they thought of limiting it to two people because it would put staff in a bind to be able to understand if people are a family. He said staff would know the difference between two or three people as it was not a subjective thing. Mr. Rambo said he did not know how Councilman Santos and Councilwoman Whitley felt but all the CDC guidelines and the Governor’s  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 6 of 11 order opening boat ramps they use no more than two people. He said if someone is in the same household they had been sheltering together and should make that part of the opening as well. Mr. Santos said with tennis there are two people on one side and two people on the other. He said he thought that would satisfy it if you are separated from another group. He said the ballfields were huge and as long as they have the social distancing, he was not so sure that two was the number. Ms. Whitley ask Mr. Gergick if they had staff availability to be stationed to monitor the facilities from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to enforce the limitations. Mr. Gergick answered in the affirmative. He said at Park West they would have three to four staff members the entire time. He said there was not a problem with the number of staff given all the programs and facilities being closed. Ms. Whitley asked if the barriers to divide the field were stored somewhere or did, they need to be purchased. Mr. Gergick said they planned to use chalk or paint lines. Ms. Whitley said she echoed Mr. Rambo’s concerns. She said she did not think staff should be a in a position to look at a group of people and determine if they are a family. Mr. Gergick said that was why they were proposing the strict interpretation of two people. Ms. Whitley said they were arbitrarily drawing a line as to which facilities were opening. She said they closed a lot of places because they were having the issue of people gathering and not observing social distancing. She asked if staff were properly trained on how to handle situations where a large number of people are. Mr. Gergick said their anticipation was that the demand would not exceed the capacity primarily due to the limitations of what they were allowed to do. He said there was no organized sports or activities just two people being able to use a portion of a field. Mr. Santos said that Chief Ritchie was with them for the video conference and asked him for input. Chief Ritchie said the Police Department would support Mr. Gergick and his staff and assist any way possible. He said they had been  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 7 of 11 managing this with social distancing and would assist with the messaging. He said they would assist them in whatever decision was finally made by Council and the officials in how they want them to proceed. Mr. Rambo said they mentioned no organized sports or personal training. He asked if would prohibit a parent from taking their child out, putting up cones, and training with them. Mr. Santos answered in the negative and said as long as they were with their family. Ms. Whitley asked what the timeline was for reopening some of the facilities in notifying the citizens, what the boundaries and rules were, and clarifying instead of hammering out the details and opening the facilities and asked about weekends. Mr. Santos said they have Monday through Saturday listed. Ms. Whitley asked the timeline and were they talking tomorrow, or would it take time to put up the barriers and getting staff educated. Mr. Gergick said if they had 72 hours’ notice of approval, they could implement it at any point with three days to get everything ready. Ms. Whitley said procedurally they are under the emergency ordinance and they are just three members of Council and there were nine of them. She asked what the next step would be if this would move forward. Mr. Santos said the next step would be a vote of Council. Ms. Whitley said they said 72 hours from when Council makes the move. She was hesitant about doing it so soon as they are still under stay at home orders and school was still out. She asked if they were following what the Governor says and following the limitations and thought there may be pressure to open more and staff would be overtaxed. She said she was worried about infection. Mr. Santos said he thought they need to move forward as the citizens have been clear they want to get out and exercise. He says they do need to go by the rules. Ms. Whitley said that under the Governor’s order, tennis is considered a sport with shared equipment and asked if they would not be allowed to open. Mr. Gergick said that was his understanding and that was correct.  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 8 of 11 Mr. Santos said it depends because if it was family members playing tennis that could do it. Mr. Rambo asked if Legal was on the call and asked if they could get their opinion. Mr. Pagliarini said he had read all of the Governor’s orders and had been tracking them closely. He said his concern about the shared equipment is that it does not make a distinction where you could separate out family members or just other individuals. He said it was clear and unambiguous about no shared equipment. He said that would be his concern with tennis and pickleball and that was something that this Committee and Council should be aware of. He said the Governor’s order are very clear about the distancing requirements no matter what the action is. He said that to Ms. Whitley’s point, none of the Governor’s orders closed public parks or anything of the sort. He said that was just a Town initiative. He said as a final procedure he would envision a resolution of Council to take care of this at a special meeting. Mr. Rambo said through this whole thing they need to be cognizant of what the medicals opinions they are given. He reached out to some medical doctors and shared the proposal and all of them were in agreement that as long as social distancing guidelines are followed that opening the parks are a positive thing for people’s health. They said getting outside and exercising promotes not only physical health but mental health which is a lot of people’s struggle through this. He also wanted them to bear in mind that the quarantine situation had created unequal access to physically activity. Ms. Whitley said that as long as social distancing was adhered to and was monitored, and they need to ensure the safety of staff throughout this. She said she was concerned about the safety of the staff and the timeline but as things are followed, she agreed providing more access to the outdoors and public facilities. Mr. Santos said Mr. Gergick and staff was very cognizant of making sure that they are safe. Mr. Santos said they need to send it to Council. Mr. Rambo said he eventually everything would be open, and the data would guide them on that. He thought they should consider what a phased in approach would be. He said this was phase one he wondered if phase two would be basketball courts in the Old Village, Greenhill, Remley’s Park, and Waterfront Park. He asked what the plan would be with eventually the facilities, gyms, and pools. He said they need to start  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 9 of 11 think about it. He said also as more things open, he did not know if they need to keep staff manning the facilities as more things open. Mr. Santos said one has to walk before they run. He thought they want to make sure they get this right. He wants to make sure the first phase goes right, and they do it right the first time before they start any second phase. He said they will have to tweak it. Ms. Whitley said she had multiple citizens express concerns about how Sullivan’s Island and Ise of Palms have blocked access for a lot of Mount Pleasant citizens. She asked if opening the facilities was going to be to the Town’s citizens or to whoever shows up. Mr. Santos said he had always been a proponent of an eye for eye leaves everybody blind. He said he thought what they did was wrong. He said the Town does not need to get down to that level as they were better than that. Mr. Rambo said that parks were not closed on the Governor’s order, but they are closed under our current situation. He said under the emergency proclamation that the Town was operating under, he asked if it would need to go before full Council or does it go to the Mayor. Mr. Santos said it had to have Council vote and this Committee would recommend approval to Council. He asked Mr. Pagliarini if that was correct. Mr. Pagliarini said that any initiative from Committee would have to be Council vote. He said he thought what Mr. Rambo asking was could it be done unilaterally under the emergency powers afforded the Mayor. He said that was one way it could be done. Mr. Rambo said that in speaking with the Mayor he thought he was waiting for this Committee Meeting as there had been talk among the Mayor’s and the county as far as when to start opening some parks. He said his understanding was he waiting for this Committee to see what the plan would be, or recommendations would be. He said he did not know if it would take a full Council vote. He said if the Mayor agreed with this plan and signed off on it, then great. He said if he did not, then Council could meet. Mr. Santos said he was trying to give all Council Members an opportunity to have their say. He said they were all elected, and would all hear from the citizens.  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 10 of 11 Mr. Gergick said he wanted clarification on the discussion had today on shared equipment. He asked for guidance on how shared equipment would work. He said it did not seem to be any leeway on shared equipment. He would interpret that to mean that a soccer ball, football, baseball, or frisbee would not be able to be used and batting cages may not be able to be used if shared equipment was not authorized. Mr. Santos said that was overreaching and would leave it up Council and to him. He said tennis was an example. Ms. Whitley said that the advice given to them by Legal under the Governor’s order there was a strict definition of what constitutes shared equipment and they must abide by that. She would like that to be included. Mr. Rambo said he understood tennis, and most are probably playing with their friends. He would not say that the use of a soccer ball by a parent and child would constituent shared equipment or throwing a frisbee by people who rode in the same car together. He said otherwise no one can do anything and no point in opening. Mr. Santos said they still had the track, conditioning, and things one can do on the field. He agreed they would lose a lot of things that they could do. Mr. Rambo asked Mr. Pagliarini if using a soccer ball with your child was considered shared equipment. Mr. Pagliarini said the Governor’s order does not go into that level of detail. He said that legally from a commonsense standpoint, if Council wishes to take that course of action, he could not say there was such a strict legal interpretation because it is not that specific. He said he would defer to Council’s judgement on that issue as well as Mr. Gergick’s and law enforcement’s ability to control that as those are important parts of it. Mr. Rambo made a motion to recommend to Council approval of the Mount Pleasant Recreation Department (MPRD) Reopening Plan without opening facilities for tennis and pickleball, unless it was otherwise adopted by the Mayor. Ms. Whitley seconded the motion. All were in favor. Mr. Rambo said they were of the opinion that summer sports are going to be open and asked about registration.  Special Meeting Recreation Committee April 21, 2020 Page 11 of 11 5. Program report Mr. Gergick said they still planned to go ahead with summer sports that start at the end of May or beginning of June. He said they do not know if it was going to happen or not. They are still taking registrations and would be able to move the starts of those sports seasons to June 29 if the needed to. They are also taking registrations for summer camps. He said they had been doing refunds for Spring sports and other programs. Mr. Gergick said the Essential Goods Market was happening that afternoon and worked very well last week. He said the Blessing of the Fleet had been postponed to June 28. 6. Adjourn There being no further business, the video conference adjourned at 2:48 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Bedenbaugh, 4/21/20