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Home My WebLink About2020/03/23 - Briefing BOARD OF MASON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS'BRIEFING MINUTES Mason County Commission Chambers,411 North 5th Street,Shelton,WA Week of March 23,2020 Monday,March 23,2020 9:00 A.M. Executive Session—RCW 42.3 0.110(1)(i)Potential Litigation Commissioners Trask, Shutty and Neatherlin were in attendance along with Tim Whitehead, Nichole Wilston and Risk Pool staff for a potential litigation matter from 9:00 a.m.to 9:30 a.m. 9:30 A.M. Support Services—Frank Pinter Commissioners Trask, Shutty and Neatherlin were in attendance. • Frank provided the latest Attorney General letter providing guidance on COVID-19 expenditures. • Consideration of Pandemic and Public Health Emergency Response and Recovery for County Employees. Frank requested guidance on the following: Closure Pay—equivalent to Paid Administrative Leave. This is regular pay without impact to accrued leave banks;Extra Duty Pay —increase of 5%in regular wages for employees who are called to perform"essential"work during a closure of the County. Review of Pandemic Pay definitions and how these various pays would be tracked which would be using certain pay and project codes. Actual costs that are being incurred due to COVID-19 are being tracked for FEMA reimbursement. Family First payments (federal)would be reimbursed to the County via FICA tax payment reductions. The Commissioners are good with the Closure Pay and Extra Duty Pay in the event the County is closed. Extra Duty Pay is for those essential employees who actually report to duty,not teleworking. If an employee chooses to go home,not a teleworker,County is not closed, employee must use leave accrual. Ross explained the EOC function;he is unsure what a"Shelter in Place"order would mean as far as government function. Frank stated that CA is considering government an essential function and most are offering telework to their essential employees. Only essential employees are required to work. If that is put into place,essential employees need to be identified. Add timeline deadline based on County's Emergency Declaration. Commissioners are supportive of Extra Duty Pay if the employee physically reports to work. Cmmr.Neatherlin would like to allow LWOP if approved by EO or DH. Frank asked if the Board wants to consider implementing an Emergency Sick Leave Pool. Commissioners would determine how the Sick Leave is managed. This will be brought back. • Employee authorization for Telework. Frank identified essential employees for Support Services that includes back up employees. The County has only 50 VPN's to allow telework so usage will need to be managed. Public Defense also identified essential employees for telework. 9:45 A.M. Community Services—Dave Windom Commissioners Trask, Shutty and Neatherlin were in attendance. • Dave reviewed the Mason County Area Command Report. Mason County has a 2nd positive COVID-19 case;98 total tests county-wide. • Anticipating$250K in emergency funding from State Health-request for temporary Public Health Administrative Assistant approved to place on March 24 agenda. May use an existing staff person,if available. • Anticipating Bld 10 for quarantine site—need security person. • Discussion of how to restrict residents from outside of Mason County relocating in the County temporarily. • Cmmr. Shutty requested bi-lingual signage for businesses that includes social distancing. • Discussion of enforcement of social distancing at restaurants/bars that offer to-go food. • Public Health staff are essential employees and have been informed to expect to work. • Building and Planning are functioning on appointments and using telework when necessary. • Ross provided an update on the EOC's operations. Board of Mason County Commissioners'Briefing Meeting Minutes Week of March 23,2020 • Request for the Park's concessionaire to set up in Building 10 parking lot was approved for now and if Building 10 does open as a quarantine location,the concessionaire may have to relocate. There are other possible Mason County owned properties that the concessionaire could move to. 10:00 A.M. Public Works—Loretta Swanson Utilities&Waste Management Commissioners Trask,Shutty and Neatherlin were in attendance. • Grizzly repair options were reviewed and the Commissioners approved equipment replacement that includes rubber tracks. This is not budgeted and ER&R will purchase and Solid Waste will pay ER&R back. • Public Works Board Loan for the Belfair Sewer. Loretta presented information on this loan that was received mid-October and the County needs to execute within 6 months or lose the offer. The deadline is mid-April. Staff has been reviewing the project scope along with finances. Staff is recommending the County accept the$8M loan and asked Commissioners to put financial controls into place. The loan decision has to be made now;implementing financial controls does not have to be put into place at this time,but the finances will be reviewed. Loretta reviewed the project. REET1 and.09 funding are used for the Belfair Sewer and this project would bring on additional rate payers. Review of area sewer rates and the impact if the rates are increased. Discussion of a utility district and the potential impact. Cmmr.Neatherlin spoke against accepting the loan based on speculation it will bring development. He is very concerned of the potential impact to the rate payers and the Belfair community. Cmmr. Shutty expressed support of accepting loan,understands there is risk but he cannot support status quo. Cmmr.Trask is also supportive of accepting the$8M loan and explained this is basically a line of credit and the entire amount doesn't have to be used. She sees this as building infrastructure that will benefit the entire county. Commissioners Trask and Shutty are concerned that if the loan is not accepted now,it will not be made available at a later day. Cmmr.Neatherlin believes there could be other funding opportunities at a late date,such as a USDA loan or utility district. Cmmr. Shutty stated if this loan is not accepted,he cannot support the Planned EIS. Cmmr.Neatherlin suggested accepting the loan as general county debt. Jennifer Beierle understands this is a general county debt and the Belfair Sewer debt is currently subsidized by.09 and REET 1. Lisa Frazier stated the loan is a general county debt and the county has to identify how it will be paid back. The original intent was to pay with sewer revenue but it has been subsidized and has to be budgeted. The financing needs to be identified and it can be done separately from the loan acceptance. Commissioner Neatherlin stated he is more supportive of the loan if it's general county debt. The Board agreed to strike the rate increase at this time,it will need to be considered at a later date. Remove the Belfair Sewer Action Item#2 from the March 24 agenda. Next steps—Belfair Sewer Action Item#1 on March 24 agenda remains;will come back with refining the financial controls;will continue to explore partnerships;review the debt repayment schedule and identify how many additional ERU's are needed,where will the funding come from; make sure funding is available so that a bridge loan is not needed. • Cmmr. Shutty asked about the status of solid waste flow control. Richard responded that Mason County Garbage is trying to obtain all the resources they need and he believes they will be able to meet the needs. The meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m. Board of Mason County Commissioners' Briefing Meeting Minutes Week of March 23,2020 Tuesday,March 24,2020 2:00 P.M. Public Works—Loretta Swanson Commissioners Trask and Neatherlin were in attendance. Commissioner Shutty participated via teleconference. • Loretta provided an update on Public Works operations. Loretta has identified certain staff who can work from home. The remaining services will function as normal and meet CDC guidelines for meeting social distances. • Cmmr.Neatherlin stated there has been an increase of people accessing state forest lands and asked if we can sign certain county roads"local traffic only". Cmmr. Shutty agreed to place signage such as reader boards on county roads with the"Stay Home-Stay Healthy"message. Also encourage local businesses to place signage with the"Stay Home-Stay Healthy"message. • Cmmr.Trask requested that County Parks be closed and bathrooms locked. • Public Works staff has discussed alternate schedules,if necessary. • Transfer Stations—Kitsap County closures impact Mason County. Commissioners would like to keep all stations open as long as able and meet social distancing. Loretta stated staff has discussed closing Union and Hoodsport stations,if necessary. Community Services Commissioners Trask and Neatherlin were in attendance. Commissioner Shutty participated via teleconference. • Dave has met with staff and provided signature authority to his Managers. Community Development's plan is to continue work;plan reviews will be done from home with work quotas; field inspectors will call ahead to make sure no one is on site in order to meet social distancing; will do digital inspections when possible;enact a 2 week pause on intake for non-essential permits. On-line permitting is still available. Kell Rowen and Alex Paysee will receive lead pay. Support Services Commissioners Trask and Neatherlin were in attendance. Commissioner Shutty participated via teleconference. • Pandemic Response Policy for tonight's meeting-effective date is March 23 and change order to Stay Home Stay Healthy. Staff request to lock Building 1 front door;Cmmr.Neatherlin does not support; Cmmr.Trask would like to lock the inside door,Cmmr. Shutty agreed to lock the inside door. There will be limited briefings in April. Reminder of CDBG hearing on April 7;April 6 briefing only if necessary. Letter from Treasurer—her office hours are reduced to 9 a.m.to 1 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Diane Zoren,Administrative Services Manager BOARD OF MASON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS J�2Sharon Trac Randy Neatherlin Kevin Shutty Chair Commissioner Commission