City Hall to remain closed

RITZVILLE – Council members reached a majority consensus to uphold a July 7 resolution extending closure of city hall through the end of the year.

The decision followed a lengthy, and at times heated, discussion that took up the majority of the August 18 meeting. The request to open city hall was brought up by council members Mark Weigand and Dede Boyer at the August 4 meeting. Weigand and Boyer both attested being confronted by constituents about city hall remaining closed.

“I’m getting tired of getting chewed out,” Weigand said when Mayor Gary Cook opened the discussion August 18.

Cook said the proclamation by Governor Jay Inslee freezing counties moving forward in the phased opening, put into the Revised Code of Washington, stated “violators of this order may be subject to criminal penalties.”

Cook cited examples of fitness centers in the Yakima Valley being fined after the Department of Labor and Industries discovered them being open.

“Opening of city hall is under the guidance of L & I,” Cook said.

Cook also pointed out the March 24 proclamation issued by Inslee “continues to prohibit any in-person meetings of the governing body. Instead, they must be held remotely.”

Attorney John Kragt said while he initially thought city hall would be able to open without too many complications, after researching the matter, he advised against it.

Kragt questioned spending taxpayer money to “put up plexi-glass and do a lot of other things that businesses are doing” for “something that we all hope is going to be gone soon.”

Kragt next pointed out a city hall employee who recently came down with COVID-19 “almost put the wheels of government grinding to a halt.”

“That’s one thing to have your own business or my business shut down, and impact some people, but when we have a local government that can’t open because of resources and low amount of staff, it causes real issues,” Kragt said. “From my perspective, I think the way that is in place right now is probably best practice.”

Council member Mike Schrag said he agreed with Kragt, stating the city just doesn’t have the personnel to replace employees with specific skill sets.

City Clerk-Treasurer Julie Flyckt said the County Department of Health asked one city hall employee who tested positive for COVID-19 to remain in isolation for 10 days, with the employee able to return to work August 19; while co-workers who tested negative but were in contact with the employee who tested positive had to remain in quarantine for 14 days, through August 24.

Flyckt pointed out the city couldn’t even consider re-opening until the county was in Phase 3, and Adams County is currently in Phase 2.

On the Washington State Coronavirus Response website, updated August 20, Washington’s Phased Approach states customer-facing government services can be open in Phase 3, with telework remaining “strongly encouraged.”

Council member Michelle Plumb stated city hall not only risked being fined with re-opening, but having state funding pulled.

Council member Debbie Chapman said she felt the level of government services being provided to the city was above and beyond services she was able to access through Olympia for her business clientele.

“We are doing an absolutely wonderful job, keeping the city going and doing our job, even remotely,” Chapman said. “While I understand the frustration, personally, I can’t vote to open up city hall at this point.”

“If someone could come to city hall and make an appointment like they do at the bank, I would have no problem with that,” Weigand said.

“This is all new ground. This is untouched territory for all of us,” Cook said. “In the four years I have been here, this is by far the toughest thing we’ve had to go through here at the city.”