Allen County commissioners held a special meeting Thursday afternoon to officially reopen the county.
The meeting followed Gov. Laura Kelly’s decision to change the “Ad Astra: Plan to Reopen Kansas” from a state-wide mandate to a series of recommendations.
This shifted authority regarding COVID-19 regulations from the state to individual counties, leaving decisions to local health and county officials.
Some counties, such as Wyandotte and Douglas, moved to continue instituting the Ad Astra plan as a mandate, though one given by the county.
Some counties, such as Johnson and Sedgwick, dropped the Ad Astra plan as a mandate but continue to use it as a series of recommendations.
Allen County commissioners have followed the example of the latter.
All businesses that were previously closed may now reopen. Limitations on crowd sizes at events are only recommendations rather than having any legal force.
“It’s not a criminal action if they don’t” follow recommended guidelines, said county counselor Bob Johnson.
Those present Thursday discussed local senior centers and the Meals on Wheels service.
The consensus was that reopening/restarting dates for such services would not be immediate.
“Those are in a prime risk category,” remarked Commissioner Jerry Daniels. “So maybe we should hold off a little bit on those.”
AS FOR other specific remarks, chairman Bill King said: “Our stance was, we were going to open up the county but encourage everyone to follow the guidelines … we were going to encourage them,” he emphasized.
“We weren’t going to make them … mandate it.”
“We’re not going to make any mandates or mandatory requirements, but we’re going to recommend that everyone follow the social distancing precautions and so forth … because it is a ‘new normal,’” said Daniels.
Daniels also said he’d recently spoken with local business owners, and “they have to get back to business or they may not make it.”
“Is a 200-person wedding a good idea? Maybe not. Can they have it? Probably they can,” he added.
“Should they still use precautions? Whoever’s putting on that wedding better have enough room to put chairs six feet apart, … whatever they need to do to respect everyone’s concerns,” Daniels said.
“We could always go back and reconsider things,” though, said Commissioner Bruce Symes, echoing the county counselor, meaning that at a later date, given specific circumstances, the county could shift to “mandating” as opposed to “recommending” specific behaviors.
In response to the question of whether commissioners have the ultimate authority to determine whether the governor’s plan would transform into recommendations versus a mandate, or if this decision is up to the local health department, King said:
“I think ultimately it’s the commission, but we typically follow her recommendations.”
“The commissioners ultimately have the final say.”
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