Board of Supervisors Special Meeting   3/27/2020

I'd like to call the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to order for this March 27, 2020 special meeting.

I'll leave that to you to decide.

So that's it and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Greg.

So, thank you.

It is daunting.

I tried yesterday, it was daunting.

Yes, this is a good quick, speaking for myself, but it's a quick reference for somebody to get a feel for what the ordinance contains and what it provides for.

because that is a question that we'll get.

have been taken, the governor lifting the state of emergency, and a statement from the state health commissioner to the effect that it is safe for people to gather again.

I think that's one of the questions.

They're just a broad exemption for government, but it's also not best practices for us to be holding large public hearings in a single location.

Supervisor Malek.

I just wanted to make sure that members of the board understand how lucky we are to have Greg as an individual because other people in the state rely on him for his guidance and why he's had no sleep for the last week because everybody's this team that put this together was really with his leadership and Phyllis so thank you.

Actually the ones who are putting in the long hours

I know everybody has been getting no sleep, all of you.

I feel like I have the easier job here.

Other comments, questions, or we can actually do the motion.

OK.

Mallek?

Yes.

Price?

Aye.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

Aye.

Mr. Kanter?

The board does have the ability to remove, to suspend particular rules and the references to from the public matters not listed for public hearing on the agenda are in rules five and six and the board can suspend that rule by a majority plus one vote if it so chooses.

Yep, go ahead.

So this would take the place of, or it would mean we would not then have the email or phone in correspondence, which I know is very tricky, but explain a little more about what this particular effort is.

In lieu of this being an agenda item, certainly the public would be free to communicate by email and other means to the board.

I'll just throw that idea out.

During the either here or the virtual meeting.

Okay, thank you.

We need a motion to do this, yep.

So moved.

Second.

Okay.

Price?

Aye.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

LaPisto-Kirtley?

Aye.

just for other items.

I don't know who somebody requests this.

I requested a discussion just passing along requests that I've received from dozens of constituents saying please board do more than so I don't have anything drafted I think there's a lot of wonderful content in the in Doug's email last night that is updating what we've been doing if there's sort of a narrative that can be crafted and I can

Maybe it would be helpful just to have a comment from somebody to explain what the difference would be with a stay-at-home provision versus what we have right now.

So that's why I'm encouraging and have been many times a week different people in state government to act more strongly than they have.

But I would be curious to hear.

but in terms of quote business as usual close quote we have got to put that out of our mindset and we have got to go much more into shelter in place, stay at home, avoid contact as much as possible but I agree I would like to hear from Jeff but I fully support the chair authoring a letter on behalf of the board and the county.

But unless you're prepared, Jeff, I'll leave that to you.

Thank you, Jeff.

I think this would be aimed at the governor's direction, would be aimed at all of us in our roles as members of the general populace, rather than changing any state direction.

I would expect it would.

I hope it does as soon as possible, actually, frankly.

So, I mean, we're all willing to make those public statements and do it, but, you know, there's nothing that I would want to make a decision on, one that I'm not prepped for and I'd like to know the answers to.

I'm just concerned that we keep it as simple as possible.

What I'm saying is if and frankly whether we send a damn letter or not I'd like to know if the governor comes out with such an order whether we've asked them to or not what that means to our organization.

What does that mean for Albemarle County if that happens because that I don't understand what's going to happen and I don't expect you to have the answer for that right now.

I think Jeff was listing off a lot of other things, and I'm just trying to keep it simple for them.

Yes.

I would I would really not want us to try to do a virtual thing without having a meeting running that first and then and then so it'll give us a couple chances to run the technology figure out and hopefully have some people participate in that that aren't huge crowds so that by the time we bring these larger items back it'll be up and running and we'll all know how it's how it should work.

Second.

Price?

Aye.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

Aye.

Any items not listed on our agenda that we need to bring up?

I'll have a question for the county executive after he does his report.

Any others?

Otherwise our numbers will skyrocket just like they have everywhere else.

So I'm sorry to be over the top here, but we have got to take this much more seriously as a community than I think we are today, as individuals doing our individual job.

And that's what we're facing if we don't do our part to prevent this spread.

It's battlefield triage.

It is.

Because this is just, we've not had this level of stress on people that are maybe not used to dealing with anxiety in this way.

Well, and what this does stress to everyone, I would hope, especially the supervisors sitting in this dais, is the importance of connectivity for everyone.

And I am grateful.

Because these kids that live way out in the rural area or in the urban ring and don't have good, strong internet and connectivity, this is a huge problem.

Ours went down three times yesterday for my grandchildren, so I understand.

We have got to move past.

I had parents locking down their kids over ten days ago already, I mean, not even leaving the house, so there are a lot of people that are doing what they're supposed to be doing, and that's appreciated.

I'm sure we all are spending way too much time or a lot more time on the phone just talking to people about what they're experiencing and that's one thing that I've heard from parents of, you know, of older kids, you know, that they're trying to make them do the things they need to do and it can be tough.

This is real.

The next item, the county executive's report.

Yeah, Mr. County Executive.

I'll stop there in case there are questions, Mr. Chair.

Or are we going to find out what we're doing for April 1st in the next couple days?

We're continuing to work through the details.

So the Lane Auditorium that we're looking at really means that the streaming will take place from here.

Yes ma'am.

But we'll be at our home locations or wherever.

In our little boxes on the screen.

The source of the information.

So if something were to break apart, we're in a low risk environment as opposed to a high risk environment.

I mean I'm willing to do that if in fact you need us to do that.

And I just need affirmation from the board that we can do that please.

So if the BOS email is directed to one of us individually, we're only talking about the BOS email, not to the L. Palmer or the D. Price or whatever.

Correct.

The supervisors will still be seeing those emails, is that correct?

Yes ma'am.

Okay, so we'll have an opportunity to also engage with that individual if it's directed directly to us, to one of us.

Oftentimes we change things more than one time a day.

Thank you, thank you Jeff.

This is especially helpful because there are so many questions we get, or I get, that I have no skill to answer anyway, whether it's federal programs, where do I get SBA loans, how do I do this, and so the fact that they will be, we also, we have great resources already through our Workforce Center and for the staff here, Roger, et cetera, so I think this has a chance to really supply some terrific details for us.

Is that something, and I know we don't need to do that right now, but is that something we'd have to weigh from the state or is that something that we could do eventually, looking to vote by mail?

Pardon?

Everyone should.

Great.

Thank you, Jeff.

Thank you, Jeff.

That's something I'm really concerned about as I hear first responders getting exposed all over the country.

Is your question particular about training for personal protective equipment?

I know Kostas was on TV the other day talking just to alert the community, don't be afraid when you see somebody show up at your door fully masked because it's to keep our germs to ourselves and yours to yourself.

So that's what we're working on is a contingency plan if that were to happen.

Have you had any response from local construction companies or anybody providing some of their supplies to you all yet?

So we're working very closely with our long-term care facilities to make sure that they have adequate supplies and processes in place.

On what circumstances would we get to that point?

So we're finalizing that probably in the next couple of days.

As you told us recently that you have to bring them, you're like required by law if they call you.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Dan.

Jeff, you were all completed there.

I was going to, did Supervisor Mallek, did you have a question that was outside of the realm?

Is there next week or is there a timetable for some discussion about how we're dealing with county leased properties?

Thank you, Jeff.

I saw you leaning in.

That's all.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you.