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Friday, March 27, 2020

Transcript: Pt. 2- City Council Emergency Meeting re short term rentals and Covid-19 March 25

(The Covid-19 Transcripts

(Note: Since this meeting is two hours longer, following transcript is not verbatim, but gist of what was said.)

Mayor Collin:  We'll move onto our scheduled agenda, first City Manager will give an overview, and then we'll dive in. 
Kilger: This is Brad Kilger with a very quick overview, following the orders of city and governor- information is on website which offices open and how to access-
Airport is critical infrastructure open for operation but closed public access to terminal.  Private tenants have access, closed to public.  Asking employees to work from home. Of course not first responders, they're following safety measures.
We push out information social media
With respect to VHR have drafted letters to all owners cease renting their homes.  In recognition of financial imposition on owners, extend annual renewal payment to May 31 giving more time to pay fee.
Re enforcement, these are governor and county emergency orders.  Re violations, we're informing and asking to respond.  As of yesterday none found in violations
Question from Council Member Middlebrook, re forms people have to fill out to avoid eviction, how do both commercial and residential do it, everyone is affected by Covid, what do you need to prove it?
Heather Stroud City Attorney:  Moratorium on evictions followed governor's executive order March 16, waived pre emptions as long as the inability to pay rent is because of Covid-19, we don’t have the ability to do blanket moratorium, it has to be virus related.  Documentation- to make sure people aren’t taking advantage, landlord rights have to be taken into consideration.
Mayor Collin:  And utility companies are offering some relief of payment, not forgiveness, you have to work it out with them, don’t assume you don’t have to pay.  Any other questions?  Anything to add? Okay let's go to item one, release of recreation center to Coalition for the Homeless. 
Stroud:  This item is from request from Coalition for Homeless received yesterday- have urgent need for place to house homeless at this time.  Warm room designed for 24 persons in evenings, because of shelter in place orders, they're serving 40 guests 24 hours a day in warm room, one bathroom no showers, no social distancing.  Ask to use rec center- [Not transcribing this part, a lot of historical info watch at 49:00 in this video  https://slt.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=6&clip_id=1086
Stroud: I ask council to delegate authority to execute this agreement.
Collin: Any questions?
Tamara Wallace: Mayor Pro Tem:  Should it be open ended or a given time, what is recommendation?
Stroud: I haven’t talked to coalition about how long need center, they need it within next week or two.  I don't think it's a bad idea to do incremental periods.
Brooke Laine: In terms, it there a way to ensure the building is commercially returned to sterile conditions, so it's safe for residents and staff after?
Brad Kilger: Staff have been talking about that and we will make provisions for that.  They have some outside funding so either way we would make sure that was taken care of before returned for any other uses.
Mayor: I would want that as well.  The virus only has a life span of two to three days on hard surfaces, isolating is a good safety measure but also thorough cleaning as well.
Middlebrook:  Should do same for all public buildings before moving back in.
Kilger: I concur. That is part of our protocol.
Laine: Other question- have we looked at other facilities such as Motel 6? If there is a motel that's vacant, Chevy's? other facilities that might be a better use?
Kilger:  My understanding is they are working towards that, some of that may even occur before we finalize an agreement with them, but there is outreach with local hotels, they're having issues because they're trying to respond to shelter in place, with visitors.  I do know they're reaching out to motels.
Mayor: To expand on that, I've spoken with CofoHo they have funds to put persons in hotel rooms.  A lot of hotels have stopped taking reservations, so we're putting the word out there, these are residents, they have a right to stay in this town.  Also connecting with businesses that own residential units that have been used for employee housing in the past.  I think it's really the speed at which they need this space, we can get people in rec center within a week.  I don't know about Motel 6, Chevy's isn’t an option because they don’t have showers.  It's privately owned, it's renovated for other potential uses. 
Cody Bass:  For me I think I definitely support coalition for homeless, we need to do something, but if we have homeless affected by Coronavirus, we need to be able to support those people and put them in one place.  It doesn't seem to me like the rec center would be the right place.  You can have homeless in a situation where you're spreading the virus further.  If we have that situation, we need something like motel rooms where they're actually quarantined away from other people. I think that it's unclear as to we have current homeless space with 24 beds.  We need to enhance that capacity.  And the idea that we're trying to enhance the capacity to deal with the  Coronavirus- to me it wouldn't seem that the rec center would be the right place.  We need to put up the funding and get these people into motels.  And I think the fastest thing is to partner with motels and provide the funding right away to move people into motels.  So I'm open to doing the rec center if that's best option, but I think we need to put more thought into- if we have members of homeless population showing symptoms we need to quarantine them, not put them in one big auditorium. 
Kilger:  My understanding is funding is not issue, it's more being able to access the motel rooms.
Stroud;  That's right the coalition is pursuing this at the same time they're trying to pursue agreements with hotels as well.  They do have funding and got more from the state yesterday.
Kilger: The answer to Mr. Bass's question is the primary purpose is for a 24 hour shelter basically, serving
Bass:  In the warm room now they have to leave at seven in the morning, so they would basically be staying in rec center all the time.  So to me that's the idea of, okay we're trying to- kind of the idea of quarantining them.  And my point is just that if we're really trying to quarantine them, let's not do it in an auditorium, let's do it in a motel, and basically they're moving in that direction.  Now as the city, should we not get behind the effort and work with the owners of motels to get them to lease and maybe even back up the homeless coalition, we will disinfect and provide funding needed so they feel more comfortable.  I think the city should walk in and say we back this up one hundred percent for the business.  I just think that we have a ton of motel rooms and it would be a better more viable option in my mind.
Mayor Collin:  I do know we've discussed that with community partners.  The list that would not take them at this time I was surprised as many are SRO hotels used for longer term residence and they have vacancies, I'm not sure what the issues are.  One said they have forty people at the warm room now and they want to get it down to about fifteen so they can social distance- the rec center is not quarantine, it's to get them out of elements and to have space between one another.  But if there is someone sick, that poses greater threat, something we have to consider working with local hotels have to make sure we don’t cause a transmission that they would not otherwise have.
Stroud: Per coalition, even with motel rooms, many are frail and need 24 hour support, and rec center would be better with separate isolation bays for social distancing.  They're plan is to move 30 into motel rooms but there are about 24 that need 24 hour support.
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(End of Part Two, we are now into second hour of meeting. Part Three will be posted shortly.)
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NOTE:  The clips I transcribe for this project contain information that I don't think is available in print anywhere else. Please show your appreciation by clicking some cash into my PayPal account through button at top of left hand column.)

The meeting is 2.5 hours long this is just first 60 minutes, but I WILL get the rest of the meeting transcribed, loosely, next few days.
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Links in this post 
The Covid-19 Transcripts https://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-covid-19-transcripts-origin.html
South Lake Tahoe City Emergency Council Meeting on Video: https://slt.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=6&clip_id=1086

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Posted by Kay Ebeling
Producer, City of Angels Blog
the city of angels is everywhere

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