The question of whether the public health emergency enacted at the height of the pandemic should end turned into a debate over procedure, precedent and public comment at Tuesday’s Lancaster County Board meeting.
The debate was reminiscent of testimony months ago at many City Council meetings over mask mandates and public health directives. In the end, the public health emergency and the county board’s procedures remained in effect, and Sam Lyon — a frequent City Council testifier against pandemic-related mandates and now chairman of the Lancaster County GOP — had his say.
Sort of.
Matt Schulte, the newest Lancaster County Board member who promised to be a “strong conservative voice,†wants to end the public health emergency.
The Biden administration plans to end the federal public health emergency in May, and both city and county officials are waiting to find out how that will affect local governments, and will likely end the local emergencies once such details become more clear.
But Schulte brought the issue up at a staff meeting a couple of weeks ago, submitted an Opinion page column to the Journal Star and on Tuesday had a declaration ending the health emergency added to the county board’s agenda.
Several people came to testify on the proposal, and Schulte, apparently aware that his colleagues didn’t plan to second his motion, told those in the audience they could come make comments before he offered a motion.
That devolved into protracted discussion about procedure. Chairwoman Christa Yoakum said long-standing board procedure was to allow public comment after a motion has been made and seconded, and testifiers before a motion were limited to staff and experts invited by the board to help board members understand the issue before them.
Public comment at the end of the meeting is allowed on any items not on the agenda, which meant the group would have to wait for another meeting to talk about the public health emergency.
Lyon came to the podium in an attempt to speak, Yoakum told him he was out of order and Schulte argued that if the public can’t speak on items on the agenda, the board should change procedures.
Ultimately, Schulte made a motion that failed for lack of a second. Lyon then got up to speak on several other matters, trying to connect bridge closures and appointing members of a pension review committee to the public health emergency.
He threatened to speak on each agenda item. But a sheriff’s deputy came to the podium and spoke to him for several minutes, and he sat down.
At the end of the meeting, several people got up and testified about the pandemic and vaccines (but not specifically the emergency declaration).
Lyon had his say, not about the health emergency but about what he characterized as the board blocking him from speaking, and allowing a “collaborative conversation†on the issue.
“That’s all we came here for, to have a conversation,†he said. “I would invite you to rethink it. Think about it. You don’t have to vote to end it, but at least second the motion so we can have an open dialogue, an open conversation.â€
Call them the big four: A Lincoln convention center. A second water source for Lincoln. The East Beltway. Affordable housing.
The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce pulled together elected officials and business leaders earlier this year to come up with goals they want to push forward to increase Lincoln’s economic vitality.
The chamber sets its own goals — spelled out on its website — but these priorities are from a broader group of stakeholders, and focused more specifically on the Legislature.
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“The conversation in that room has been around what are the large community initiatives we see as opportunities this year,†said Chamber President Jason Ball.
The four goals all have bills attached to them:
* LB709 would provide $60 million in one-time spending from the state's cash reserve to help pay for a convention center (as well as additional grant dollars for the Lancaster Event Center Fairgrounds), and LB732 would authorize the use of “turnback†state sales tax revenue to build the convention center.
* LB506 would appropriate $200 million in federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund dollars toward helping Lincoln develop a second water source, which an advisory council has recommended be treated and piped from wellfields along the Missouri River.
* LB721 would appropriate $25 million in general fund tax dollars to begin planning for the East Beltway.
* There are a number of bills related to affordable housing, including LB707, which would appropriate $10 million from the state’s cash reserve for grants to build affordable housing in Lincoln.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department issued its annual report — a 15-page report that covers 2019-2022, which, you might remember, included a global pandemic.
A few of the stats from the report regarding the pandemic:
* 14,824,300: Visits to the department’s COVID-19 dashboard.
*Ìý5.5 million:Â Pieces of personal protective equipment managed and distributed by the Health Department.
*Ìý490:Â Vaccine clinics hosted by the department at 80 locations.
*Ìý80,000:Â COVID-19 cases monitored by staff since 2019.
*Ìý230:Â Additional people who would have died in Lancaster County during the pandemic if the county had the same death rate as the state. By August, 450 Lancaster County residents had died of COVID-19.
*Ìý69,900: Home tests distributed.
*Ìý236,139:Â Vaccinations administered (more than 53% of all vaccines administered in the county).
And a few Health Department statistics beyond the pandemic:
*Ìý313,039:Â Pounds of household waste collected by the department and diverted from the landfill.
*Ìý1,596: Animal cruelty and neglect cases investigated, along with 1,453 animal bites and attacks.
*Ìý1,035: Bats tested for rabies (20 found positive).
*Ìý418: Child car seats distributed to families in need.