Chincoteague Officials Vote to Go Back Into Local State of Emergency for COVID-19

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Councilwoman Denise Bowden hold up a copy of the town’s declaration of a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic during a Chincoteague Town Council meeting on Thursday, July 16, 2020. Photo by Carol Vaughn.

By Carol Vaughn —

Chincoteague officials after a 3 1/2 hour workshop session Thursday voted unanimously to go back into a local state of emergency, after the town council voted July 6 to end the state of emergency declared in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The motion was made by Councilman Chris Bott and seconded by Councilwoman Denise Bowden.
The measure sends a message that the pandemic is still happening and people should take it seriously, according to the discussion.
Emergency Manangement Coordinator Bryan Rush said the town has spent around $20,000 so far on pandemic-related expenses.
He said he had clarified with a FEMA representative that reimbursements to the town for COVID-19-related expenses were not jeopardized by the town’s having ended the state of emergency.
Still, he showed the council a list of Virginia localities that remain in a state of emergency — in addition to Chincoteague, only Frederick County has terminated its state of emergency and Lee County, in the mountains of western Virginia, did not declare one.
“The rest of the Commonwealth is still declared…The reason for that is, COVID is not gone,” Rush said.
In a separate motion made by William McComb Jr., the council voted to have Town Manager Mike Tolbert seek a legal opinion about the possibility of crafting a special resolution that would address the unique aspects of the COVID-19 emergency, including “allowing a special relationship between the council and mayor during the state of emergency,” as Tolbert described it.
The council in the motion also voted to call a special meeting to receive the legal information once it is available.
The votes came after two speakers and six letters, read into the record by Tolbert, asked the council to consider reinstating the state of emergency.
The actions also came after a lengthy discussion — and after Councilman Gene Wayne Taylor offered a compromise motion to go back into the state of emergency, but to have the town council included in all decisions, as in the standard mode of governance.
That motion did not get a second.
Taylor at the July 6 meeting called for the town to terminate the local state of emergency, saying going out of the state of emergency would return the town “back to regular council rules. … We need to do things together; we need to make decisions together.”
At that meeting, he cited actions taken by the mayor during the state of emergency, including posting police at the bridge leading onto the island and closing down motels, saying “we should be able to do that together” as a council.
The council at that meeting voted 4-1 to exit the state of emergency, with Councilwoman Ellen Richardson voting no and Councilwoman Denise Bowden absent.
Taylor said at Thursday’s meeting he understands that, legally, the mayor has the right to make decisions during a state of emergency, but said in his motion he was trusting Mayor J. Arthur Leonard to give council members a say in decisions.
“This is a compromise of trust,” he said.
Council members during the discussion agreed that the town’s emergency operations plan was geared toward natural disasters such as hurricanes, which have a much shorter duration than the pandemic.
The state is extending its state of emergency at least 90 days, and likely longer, Bowden said, calling the pandemic “unprecedented territory.”
McComb said, “We could possibly be in it a lot longer than that…Nothing was ever designed for this long.”
“Our government right now is being ruled by an emergency management plan which doesn’t mention pandemics. … With this pandemic, we are in a two-year state of emergency, in all reality,” Bott said.
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Chincoteague remains steady at 10, with 211 tests done, according to Rush.
“I would rather err on the side of caution,” Rush said, adding “it’s highly possible” case numbers could go up, as they have in other vacation spots including Virginia Beach and Ocean City, Md.
Chincoteague Vol. Fire Company Fire Chief Bobby Lappin said the council’s decision to come out of the state of emergency “was a big worry for me.”
Lappin said it would have been preferable for the town to hold a workshop with department and agency leaders before making the decision.
Bowden said Rush gave daily updates to the council about the situation during the emergency and said she has had no problem contacting the mayor at any time during the pandemic. She praised Leonard and Rush for the good job they have done in handling decisions related to the pandemic.
Bowden said the council should take the advice of Rush, a professional, about the need to stay in a state of emergency.
She noted that COVID-19 cases in Virginia, and in particular in Hampton Roads, are on the rise, and added about the number of tourists descending on Chincoteague, “We have had so many people here in the last couple of weeks.”

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