CITY PREPARES FOR IMPACT OF THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

March 16, 2020 by

MEDINA CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION MEETINGS TO BE HELD TELEPHONICALLY DURING CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

Mayoral Declaration No 2020-01 finding local emergency exists at the City of Medina, Minnesota

Mayor Statement and Determination Regarding Conducting Meetings by Telephone or Other Electronic Means

Resolution Extending Mayor Declared Local Emergency

(Excerpts from State Statutes in reference to emergency declarations and telephonic meetings)

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

As you are already aware, the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented situation for all of us in Minnesota. We, at City Hall, have been monitoring developments surrounding the outbreak, particularly since last Friday. While there is a great deal of uncertainty about this virus and how it spreads, the safety of our staff and our community is our highest priority.

Our Police Department, Fire Departments and Public Works Department have made preparation for continued service to our residents during this health crisis, and they are coordinating with other departments within Hennepin County to maintain service if available personnel or equipment dwindles over time. Please help us to keep our officers and workers healthy by avoiding personal contact, limiting your inquiries to matters requiring immediate attention and recognizing that we may well be working with less than a full complement of officers, public works personnel, and other staff.   North Memorial Ambulance Service will continue to handle health-related emergency calls in our area.

We have worked this past week to equip City staff who are capable of working from home with the necessary tools to do so. Should you need to make contact with any of us, we are available through email and phone communications. Again, because our staff’s capacity could decline over the next few weeks, I ask that you limit your inquiries to only essential and emergency matters and continually check our City’s website for updates, and we will do our best to respond to your needs.

In light of the alarming increase in confirmed coronavirus cases in Minnesota in the past few days and Governor Walz’ emergency declaration, City Administrator Scott Johnson, City Attorney Ron Batty and I, as your mayor, have jointly concluded that it is not prudent at this time to hold in-person City Council, Planning Commission or Park Commission meetings, which could possibly expose our staff, our commission and council members and our residents and their families to unnecessary risk of infection. Accordingly (and pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13D.021), until further notice and commencing with the City Council Meeting scheduled for March 17, 2020, all future meetings of the Medina City Council, Planning Commission and Park Commission will be held telephonically.

Our staff and IT consultant are working on means to permit the residents of Medina to nonetheless monitor the telephonic meetings while they are occurring, and more information on electronic or telephonic access to the meetings will be posted on the City’s website at https://medinamn.us/citygov/agenda-n-minutes/featured-page-3/. As always, a recording of each of our council and commission meetings will be posted to the City’s website within a few days following each meeting.

We have no public hearings scheduled for our March 17th City Council Meeting, but we may have a need to have public hearings at either the Planning Commission or City Council during the period of time that meetings will be held telephonically. Our staff and IT consultant are determining how we can accommodate public input if those hearings are required, but should you have comments you would otherwise seek to present at a live council or commission meeting, please provide them via email to Scott Johnson, Medina City Administrator (scott.johnson@medinamn.gov), to me (kathleen.martin@medinamn.gov), or to any other commissioner or council member, as appropriate, and we will strive to circulate your comments to the applicable staff, commission or city council members. Please know that our Minnesota open meeting law prohibits three or more members of any of our commissions or council from conversing on policy matters outside a public forum, and thus you may not receive responses from all commissioners or council members to whom you write, but we will read all your comments.

We had planned to recognize our Police Chief, Ed Belland, on 28 years of service to the City at our March 17th City Council meeting, but have postponed that event to a future date (to be determined), knowing that many members of our community will want to be present for that ceremony to thank Chief Belland for all his outstanding dedication to our community.

Our first responders have asked us to remind you to keep your social distance and avoid unnecessary contact with others, wash your hands regularly, cover your cough and, if you are feeling ill, stay home.

All of us at the City hope you do your best to stay healthy, and we remain committed to providing you the best possible service during this challenging time.

Sincerely,

-Kathy Martin

Mayor, City of Medina
Kathleen.Martin@medinamn.gov

 

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