CHICO — In a special meeting of the Chico City Council on Tuesday afternoon, it was decided the public can start attending regular meetings starting Aug. 4.
A protest of this meeting was initially discussed online by the interest group Citizens for a Safe Chico due to it being held without public in attendance, following statewide regulations about public attendance during COVID-19.
The City Council is meeting in ten minutes and protestors have gathered outside, against the fact that it is closed to the public. @ChicoER pic.twitter.com/8qKb9hmazI
— Natalie Hanson (@nhanson_reports) July 28, 2020
Nichole Nava of One Chico said her group had also discussed protesting — “It seems like they could use methods being used by other communities,” she said.
A group of about 15 people had gathered with signs on the steps of the City Council Chambers by 2:50 p.m.
Public meetings
Mayor Ann Schwab said the meeting was called after Butte County was placed on the state’s coronavirus watchlist Saturday, to revisit the city’s emergency resolution “to update on how we go through this emergency and if we need to make any changes to this resolution.”
“We are not holding any secretive meetings,” Schwab said. “This is a special meeting so we can review the resolution.”
When Councilor Randall Stone asked why the meeting was held at 3 p.m., Schwab said it was to be respectful of staff’s time, that the time chosen were her preference and other councilors had agreed. Stone objected as he felt the public “expects our meetings to be at 6 p.m.”
Councilor Sean Morgan said he also did not like the meeting being at 3 p.m. and did not feel it was worth an emergency or special meeting — “We’re gonna debate ways we can get the public engaged knowing full well that is not going to happen.”
“The meeting seems like smoking mirrors for something else,” he said.
However, Councilor Scott Huber and Vice Mayor Alex Brown thanked the mayor for calling the meeting — “I think it is essential to look for ways to have the public engaged,” Huber said.
“It’s clear we cannot go back to business as usual,” Schwab said. “But it’s also fair we need to be able to engage our community.”
There have been many virtual technology issues such as in the mayor’s policing committee that met July 23, Schwab added. She suggested a physical, outdoor solution like having a microphone available outdoors with queue lines.
This idea was greeted with welcome from other councilors. However, City Clerk Debbie Presson said city staff have been pursuing lots of technological options for engagement as alternatives for physical engagement.
“We want to keep them (the public) safe, we want to keep them distanced,” she said, adding that the numbers of comments received online in the last several months had led to “more public input via than we’ve ever had in attendance.”
“If we have a large amount of people… how do we safely take care of them and get them in so they can speak?”
However, Huber said businesses with high numbers of customers have found solutions to organize large groups of people, and made a motion that a physical solution for meetings be found, seconded by Stone. Brown suggested an amendment to require masks to attend the meeting and stand in line, which Stone and Huber agreed with.
“Let’s get them in front of us,” Huber said.
Interim Chico Police Chief Matt Madden said he has concerns for how to police an outdoor meeting, such as keeping decorum in a lawful way.
“I’m incredibly worried about this virus getting inside your Police Department and what it could do,” Madden added.
Reynolds also suggested having a light agenda to test out a physical meeting of this nature and manage any possibilities for altercations.
The final motion pushed by Huber was to immediately change language to allow the public to address the council by utilizing social distancing as directed by City Manager and Emergency Services Director Mark Orme, consistent with state law.
The vote to do so was unanimous, 7-0.
Mask enforcement
Brown then presented her request that the council also consider discussing directing city staff to make city enforcement of the mask order possible at the next public meeting.
Councilor Kasey Reynolds asked what Brown hoped that would look like, and Brown said she would hope it would follow California Department of Public Health regulations for when to wear a mask.
Schwab agreed with the urgency of discussing this issue, as “We could really get this virus under control if we practiced the guidelines from CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the state of California.”
“We could very well curb this climb and prevent not only the deaths but also those suffering from this virus,” she said. “The effects are long lasting — it’s not just the flu. I for one would love to put this in our past, but we need to have everyone’s participation in those guidelines.”
However, Madden said if Chico police must enforce mask wearing, in the police community.
“We don’t know what the enforcement mechanism is because it goes back to a guideline.” Capacity calls for service would also be very low in priority as there has been a local increase in violent crime “in the last couple of months,” he said.
City Attorney Jared said at any time, Orme and the council can order to make wearing masks required, and violations of those orders are misdemeanors, which can be filed as citations rather than criminal matters. He cited multiple examples in other cities and counties.
Huber then motioned to discuss a facemask enforcement in a future meeting.
“If we need guidance, we can go to the state,” Stone added, emphasizing the scientific evidence that “wearing masks saves lives” despite what he called local misinformation campaigns against wearing them.
“We’re protecting our businesses, … and we’re keeping our community members safe,” he said.
Although “the vast majority” of residents are abiding by these guidelines, Orme said “as long as there is a majority of councilors who agree with this, we (city staff) will move forward with what we can.”
Based on Stone’s motion seconded by Brown, the council voted 7-0 to discuss enforcement with the public and which reiterates to Orme he can use emergency powers to begin operations to inform the public about mask wearing.
The next regular meeting of the Chico City Council will take place with the public allowed to be present at 6 p.m. Tuesday at 421 Main St. in the City Council Chambers in Chico.
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