Klamath County 'ready to reopen' and submitting plans to Governor

Officials with Klamath County say that they are pursuing plans to reopen the local economy with Governor Brown's approval.

So as of right now, do you believe that klamath county has met the requirements necessary to reopen.

We do.

Um, as we read the requirements, we believe that we have met them all.

Um, the only part that may be up to the governance governor's discretion is that some of the pieces are being evaluated as a region and then some as an individual county.

So that part's going to be up to her interpretation and judgment, but it is our strong belief in klamath county that we are ready to reopen, that we have the partners and stakeholders who are involved in this.

Also agree.

We're ready to reopen.

So we are sending in our paperwork today requesting the ability to reopen.

When you say partners, what specifically are you talking about?

What agencies are you're talking about?

So i'm, the ceo of the local hospital has been specifically called out in the governor's framework as somebody who needed to have, um, buy in and sign off on the plan.

Additionally, the county's medical officer.

So as we've been working the last several days to draft the plan, we've made sure to keep those partners in the loop and, uh, getting their sign off today before sending it off to the governor's office.

Assuming the plan you submit today is approved, what will reopening look like in klamath county?

What businesses will be open and what businesses won't be or, or are all the doors open?

I'm glad you asked that question.

I think there's some confusion by a lot of people as to what was covered under the executives or the governor's executive order and therefore was closed by the governor and what our counties doing.

Um, in it, the reality is the county did not shut down anything.

In fact, we at one point closed our doors for maybe 10 or 14 days as a good faith measure to be supportive of the other businesses that were closed.

But we opened the doors to our county facilities last week.

So there's nothing that changes at the quote unquote county level.

Now what is called out in the governor's, uh, phase one pre, pre requisites for reopening are some of the things that she closed in her executive work.

Those are the things like.

Uh, what's called personal services, essentially barbers in salons, restaurants, and bars, and there's a recreation, uh, and there's a handful of other items that are specifically called out.

But again, these are things that fell under the governor's executive order.

These are not things that the county ever closed, given your proposal is accepted with those, then reopened.

So if our proposal is accepted, my understanding is that the governor then lifts the executive order for phase one for the businesses that fall under, that, that happened to be located in klamath county, that they would no longer be subjected to.

Um, the closures that are under the executive order.

That said, uh, we've been receiving drafts from the governor's office of what they're calling sector specific protocols.

So they are lining out.

If you are, for example, a restaurant, what guidelines they still want you to follow in this phase one reopening, and those are very specific and they're sector by sector as you understand it with the county.

Then they responsible for enforcing those.

The county has never been responsible for it.

We're seeing the executive order again.

I think that's another area that's really confusing for people.

Uh, the, the main, um, enforcement mechanism, if you will, for the executive order has been the licensing, um, authorities for the different entities.

So for example, if you are a bar and you are licensed or fall under the authority of the llcc.

Then that's the enforcement mechanism.

It's not the county sheriffs or the county in any capacity.

Do you have any concerns as the county moves forward, given the situation that we all find ourselves in now, i don't have any concerns moving forward because what i think that people have learned over the last several weeks.

Is the importance of physical distancing and maintaining responsibility for your own health?

Um, i think people understand that when we are in the presence of others, we should be wearing a mask.

I'm at my own home alone, so i'm not wearing one.

But if i were with, um, other people out in public, i'd be wearing a mask.

Uh, i washed my hands frequently.

I mean, all these things that we've learned in order to be responsible for our own personal safety people get it.

And now it's time that we get our people back to work and we start trying to bring back some normalcy to our communities, especially to our business community.

Telling me more as columbia county commissioner, we appreciate your time today.

Thank you.

Thank you.