Will Board of Supervisors meeting remain virtual? 1 supervisor considers opening chambers

The upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday will be held virtually instead of in the chambers due to the local spread of COVID-19.

"Due to high levels of community transmission of COVID-19, the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors will be held virtually," Shasta County Public Information Officer Tim Mapes said in a Friday morning press release.

"This decision is made to protect county staff and the public from exposure to COVID-19 during a large gathering in a public setting," Mapes added.

RELATED: Group gathers to support Supervisor Moty, denounce recall attempt

The move comes as the Shasta County government announced Wednesday it would limit in-person services at its offices to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Infections are back on the rise after travel and indoor holiday gatherings, and the emergence of the fast-spreading omicron variant. Local health officials have tracked fast-rising COVID-19 cases throughout the county this month.

The county's decision also preempts what is expected to be another contentious board meeting over Supervisor Leonard Moty's move to split the public comments period to keep proceedings moving along expeditiously. Moty, who became board chair at the same meeting in which he made that decision, is fighting a recall in his district.

RELATED: Shasta County election to recall Supervisor Moty: Everything you need to know

Protesters on Tuesday are likely to renew their criticisms.

It remains to be seen what will happen outside the board chambers with a virtual meeting.

Supervisor Patrick Jones told the Record Searchlight that he is thinking about opening up the chambers. Reached by phone after Friday’s announcement, he said that regardless of what he does, there will be “hundreds” of people showing up in person for Tuesday’s meeting.

“I’ve done it before. I gotta just figure out if there is an issue with COVID and would it be an issue for the people coming forward,” he said.

Employees working remotely

The county employs 2,031 people.

Asked how many employees are in quarantine or have tested positive for the virus, Mapes on Thursday declined to provide specific figures and cited the HIPPA federal privacy law.

Nonetheless, the statement Friday again raised concerns about COVID in the workplace, noting that the county is "experiencing the highest volume of COVID-positive employees to date."

Mapes said Friday he was trying to get an estimate on the number of county employees impacted by the virus.

"County departments are making the effort to have employees work remotely as much as possible," Mapes said in a press release.

The online meetings begin Tuesday and "will continue until it is deemed safe to resume meetings in person," the county statement says.

District 5 Supervisor Les Baugh speculated Wednesday on Facebook that another COVID-19 shutdown might be in the works based on the Sacramento County Health Officer saying last week that public boards there had to hold meetings virtually due to the spread of COVID-19.

"While I don’t agree, I can see movement in that direction. Sacramento is once again moving in that direction by shutting down in-person governmental meetings," Baugh said.

Baugh did not return two messages this week seeking comment on the upcoming board meeting. On Facebook, he says he remains in favor of in-person Board of Supervisors meetings for Shasta County.

"Our local board has already used this tactic to shut out dissent. Let’s not go there again," he said in his Facebook post.

Tensions run high ahead of Tuesday meeting

Prior to Friday's meeting announcement, District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones said he expected a packed house if there was an in-person Tuesday meeting, mainly because of Moty's move to split up the public comment period after he was elected chairman on Jan. 4.

Under the new rules, the public gets 45 minutes to comment at the start of the meeting. Supervisors then move to the consent agenda and regular agenda before returning to public comments.

"That's the chairman bringing that upon himself," Jones said about Moty splitting the public comment period. "That's nothing more than him exercising his ability to change the rules as chair and the public will probably respond."

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Jones said he has a key to get into the building.

Jones said he wants to know if there is an actual COVID-19 outbreak in the county administration building or if it is isolated to Health and Human Services Agency employees, whose offices are in a different building.

“As you know there’s been a lot of attention about the meeting on the (Jan.) 18th and a lot of the public wants to attend,” Jones said. “It does seem a little disingenuous to use COVID as an excuse to hold the meeting virtually.”

When asked how the county is going to assure the chambers stay closed Tuesday, Mapes didn’t specifically say.

“The meeting will be virtual and the board chambers should not be open to in-person gatherings,” he said in an email.

'Business of the county'

On Jan. 5, 2021, Jones and Baugh defied a virtual meeting order and opened the chambers to the public for a Board of Supervisors meeting, Jones’ first as a supervisor. Jones and Baugh were censured for their actions.

That order came around the time that COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the county were at their worst point since the start of the pandemic.

Moty has said that dividing the public comment period will save taxpayer dollars and not make people wait who come solely for the consent and regular agendas.

Early in-person voting started in Shasta County the first week of January for District 2 voters who will decide whether Moty should keep his seat through a recall election.

Some people in the Jan. 4 audience who support Moty's recall were upset because they think the comment change was meant to limit public remarks.

There were times last year when the audience would give several hours of public comments before the supervisors could turn their attention to the regular agenda.

Wait times to speak before the supervisors “ebbs and flows” depending what’s on the agenda, Shasta Community Health Center Chief Executive Officer Dean Germano said. He said that over the years, he’s appeared to speak to the board on issues as both a citizen and as the health center’s top executive.

“When there is something that’s debatable on there, you can have 30 or 40 people and the wait can be really long. As somebody who’s busy, the key is you’ve got to get in there really early ... and hope you’re called in the first 10 people. It can be very tiresome.”

As to the changes, Germano said: “I can see how there’s a need to get the business of the county done and still have an opportunity for the people’s voice to be heard.”

All the drama that regularly erupts during the meetings has “scared off a lot of what I consider more mainstream individuals from going to the meetings and speaking because it’s just painful to listen to,” Germano said. “Then, you’ve got the undercurrent of ‘are there weapons, are there threats?’ It’s just become unbearable to watch in many respects. Some of these folks you just know are there to antagonize.”

Mapes said instructions for watching and participating in the Tuesday board meeting can be found with the agenda and will be posted online at co.shasta.ca.us/index/bos/meeting-agendas.

Mike Chapman is an award-winning reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Support local journalism by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County board meeting to be held virtually due to COVID-19