City Council

Special Council Meeting March 17, 2020 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the special meeting to order at 4:05pm. Present were Council members David Butler, Kale Dankenbring and Amanda Milne. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, Sheriff Cody Beeson, City Attorney Lauren Reyelts, and City Clerk Lila Whitmore. Also present were County Commissioner Terry Rieger and Emergency Management Director Ryan Murray. Council members Dara Carmichael and Larry Finley were absent. 2. At the request of the City Council, Emergency Management Director Ryan Murray was present to share information about the COVID-19 virus and how local agencies are working to protect the community. The Cheyenne County Health Department is the lead agency for this and the Emergency Management team is working in support of them. President Trump has declared a National Emergency which has never been done before. The Governor has also declared a State of Emergency for the State of Kansas from now until January 2021, but Cheyenne County is not currently in one. Everyday this is being reviewed. Currently the County can request resources from the State. Since this is a health emergency funding comes from Health & Human Resources rather than FEMA. Emergency Management will assist in providing guidance but decisions will need to be made at the City or County level. The Governor has issued an executive order that bans all gatherings of 50 or more people, with some exceptions. Local first responders have started wearing protective gear for their protection as well as public protection. Locally all 911 calls are being screened by dispatch so that the appropriate resource is available to respond. This particular virus will often present mild symptoms so many people will not realize they have it, so the numbers being reported are far less than actual cases. Mr. Murray explained that at this point the County is preplanning for response and is mitigating and putting things into place to prevent the spread of the virus. Mr. Murray stated that there are currently no positive tests in Cheyenne County. He explained how and why individuals might be quarantined. There are specific reasons why individuals may be told to self-quarantine such as travel to certain counties in Colorado or International travel, or being around someone who is suspected of having the virus. This does not mean that they have it. If there is in fact a positive test KDHE will release that information. Dr. Licke is the County Health Officer and the County Commissioners are the Board of County Health. He also indicated that this is an evolving situation and things continuously change but he assured the Council that the Cheyenne County Health Department and the Emergency Response team is ready to respond in the case of a positive test within the community. 3. At 4:22pm a motion was made by Amanda and seconded by David for the Council, along with Superintendent Landenberger, City Clerk Whitmore, County Commissioner Terry Rieger and Emergency Management Director Ryan Murray to recess into executive session per the security measures exception as it relates to public buildings and personal property for 15 minutes with the open meeting to resume at 4:37pm. Motion passed. At 4:37pm the open meeting resumed. No action was taken. 4. Upon coming out of executive session the Council learned that the Governor had just closed all schools for the remainder of the school year. The Council discussed other topics including the food pantry as well as various security concerns with the current situation. The Council decided at this time to operate City Hall business as usual but to always lock the inside door to prevent access to any areas other than the front and being diligent about keeping things disinfected and clean. Terry asked if there could be a single point of contact created to support citizens needing assistance during this time. Ryan indicated that people can contact the United Way at 211. The Council thanked Ryan Murray for coming to the meeting, sharing information and answering questions. 5. At 4:50, a motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to adjourn the special meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk